IS Virus: Episode 2-8 -Epidemic-
by tonbonkittybon
Summary: While the renegade acts as a scapegoat for the rest of the nation, Phantom Task will continue to stir up trouble in the political world. The many parties of infiltration will make plays very soon, including a surprise entrance from a familiar face. With the timeline creeping to a close, preparations have begun for what could be the wildest election season in US history.
1. Everybody Blurbs

_IS Virus: Episode 2.8 - Epidemic_

 _Part 1: Everybody Blurbs_

 **-NCSU, WAKE COUNTY; 10:36, SEVEN DAYS TO ELECTION-**

November. Usually the month to reflect on the good things that happened, and to learn from the bad things. Usually, the month to give thanks to those who have contributed to life's successes. But there would be no such time, for a walking disaster has entered sacred educational grounds, unopposed. Sokoto and Silvia just walked in, with Akari in tow. Right when there was a lengthy battle to get the votes in. Lucky, they were in the seat of the county, so no opposition hostilities here. That didn't help the fact that Akari fell asleep, Sokoto was starving, and Silvia was using up energy to not accidentally drop Akari's head on the concrete. So, they put her down on the grass and planted their backs on the middle of the six way cross sidewalk.

"Y'know..." Silvia panted, "It's times like these where...I enjoy my intangibility..."

"Oh, bugger off..." Sokoto brushed, "I thought you could do that zappy voodoo magic to move electronic shit, no problem..."

Silvia wagged her finger to check her status. Her energy reserves were almost depleted, and her shield integrity was compromised, "DOES THIS NOT LOOK LIKE A PROBLEM TO YOU?!"

"Ah, screw it..." Sokoto grabbed a light post and forced himself upright, "We gotta eat..."

"But where?..." Silvia looked around for something to lift her circuits. She found an electric car recharge station and quickly darted off to it. She made sure no one was using it before shrinking to her default tiny height, hiding her electronic clothing, and dunking her face in the plug, "AAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW, YEEAAAHHHH...that's the stuff..."

"Hey...I know this place..." Sokoto blinked, "I led a frat party out here once...which means..." he traced his finger to another direction, "Crap...we ain't got any money, do we-oh, we do." He walked back to Akari, "Hey! Akari!" He ran her hand through her entire body on an effort to wake her up, "Wakey wakey! Eggs and bak-" he stopped when a nightmarish aura came from her chest, "Or don't. Either way..." Instead, he heaved her up once more, "OH GOD! Agh...What the hell do they feed you in that compound...Sil! I know where we can grab some grub!"

Silvia poked her head out, with a huge mouthful still being processed, "You go! I'm gonna hang back a bit!"

"YOU WANT ME TO DIE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THIS FATSO?!" Sokoto screamed.

"Ugh! Fine," Silvia pulled herself out of the recharging station and back into her clothes. She regrew and reformatted literally all the energy in that station as a personal backpack and rushed Akari and Sokoto to the cafeteria.

An hour later, Sokoto and Akari finally had their fill, and Silvia finally processed all that recharge. They all let out a hearty BEEELLLLLLLCH! DUUUUUH! IIIIIIIIIIIIING!

"Oh, that hit the spot..." Sokoto leaned back and stretched.

"Finally!" Silvia commented, "You just went through five double-servings!"

"It was all worth it," Sokoto drank, "And what about you, Akari? Just one plate gonna do it for ya?"

"Yeah..." Akari said, "I haven't had food like this in a long time..."

"Well, savor it for as long as you can," Silvia nudged her, "Because after this, we're back on the road."

"Waaat! Can't we just stay here for a little longer?" Sokoto asked.

Silvia was about to answer with a snide remark when two female students yanked his seat back.

"Uh, you can't," one of them said.

"Uh-oh..." Silvia braced for the worst.

Too bad for Sokoto, this was a pro-Leonie county, so he got the worst of the worst. And yet for some reason, he didn't feel like wasting any effort on them. His anger ran out of anger to rage over. All he could say was a half-hearted, "O hai gills..."

"Look at this fuckin' dumbass hoe," one of the girls said, "Can't even say the words right," up in his face, "What are you doing here, dumb shit?! You don't belong on this land!"

"Nothing..." Sokoto said.

But the two women heard something else. One of the women pulled him off the chair, "Well, get your stupid dick-ass out of here! This isn't a man's dick area!"

"Hey," Silvia tried to say something, "I don't think you-"

"It's fine, honey," the student said, "no need to dirty your hands. We got this."

"Go on!" The other student literally kicked him off like a hackysack, "Get the hell outta here! I have no idea why this ain't an all-girls college yet!"

Sokoto turned back to see what else hey would do. The women where so focused on trying to get him off their section, they didn't even realize that he figured out how to live stream from his IS all by himself. And he caught everything, including the "men only" sections.

"The hell you ogling at, bitch?!" A student walked up to him and grabbed his shoulders, "Go back to the zoo and stay there!"

To which point Silvia had enough. All the energy she ingested had finally been processed, so she was able to manipulate her gloves to make it look like she really did throw a plate at her. She caught the women by surprise, and enraged them when she said, "You leave my brother alone."

"Your brother?" The woman said, "He's just a placemat! Why would you say he's your brother?!"

"He saved me from death!"

"He did what was required of him. Nothing more."

"He saved this girl from being raped!"

"He's a betrayal to his own kind, then. He's not a man; he's a pig."

"What..." Silvia got mad.

"Ok, look," a woman walked over to her, "It's clear that you're sick in the head if you think that this dick is anything good. So, if you're not gonna accept that he's not your brother he's your rag doll, then I don't know what to say."

Silvia heard the back talking before, but why does this particular case threaten her? Maybe it's because she's hearing it firsthand, or the separate man/woman dining areas. Or the fact that they are complacent with the world as is. Either way, it ended with her fist to the woman's throat.

That caught Akari by surprise. She punched someone! A holographic sprite electronic witch was able to land a solid blow on a human! Granted she needed circuits in her clothes to do it...eh, still counts!

"Then, don't say anything," Silvia growled, "I'll do all the talking." She forces her electronic shoes on the woman's chin. It was a KO.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" The women screamed, "You want to associate yourself with this monkey?!"

Silvia walked in between the students and Sokoto, and took her battle stance, "More like I want him to associate with me."

The woman could not believe what they heard, "You're not a real woman. You're a fake. Get her!"

"Captain obviously strikes again..." Silvia said before striking someone's eyes.

Time to rumble. The woman swiped at Silvia with slaps and punches, and Silvia easily redirected them all. Sokoto decided to join the fun and activated his shield bracelet, exponentially increasing the damage done to the cafeteria.

"I feel like dancing to an Irish jig!" Silvia said.

"Oh, we'll get there in less than a minute," Sokoto screamed, hinting to an extremely hostile aura in a far away corner.

Akari just say silent, confused. What should she do? If she intervened, no doubt she would get hurt. But she didn't want to be stuck here either. She was about to move, when she saw Sokoto slipping on water ("HERPAMEDERP!") and the other women pouncing on him. She stopped thinking and ran to the pile, tearing whatever hair she grabbed.

"YAAGH!" The woman yelped, "What's wrong with you?!"

At which point, all the rage and aggression Akari bottled up inside her just poured out. She was like a ferocious cat, clawing and biting everything in sight.

The person in the corner did not like what was happening. How could ten of her best MMA club fighters not be able to pin down three little kids? She sighed and stood up.

"ENOUGH!"

The entire cafeteria shook at the sound of her voice. Everyone stopped to look at the skyscraper of the woman who rose from her seat, who slowly approached the trio who intruded upon their sacred eating place.

"Oh, you're gonna get it now, worthless prick," a woman seethed.

Sokoto could feel the aura overtaking him. He hadn't felt this excited since the Battle of Ned's Creek. He deactivated his shield bracelet and stepped forward.

They took a moment to survey each other's physique before the woman made the first state.

"I don't know how you mesmerized those other two into throwing a feast for you," she growled, "but you're not gonna leave here with a ful stomach."

"Shame, I just finished digesting my fill," Sokoto took his stance.

"Then, I will serve you a platter of humiliation," The woman charged forward and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

"He's done for!" A student commented, "She's like 6-3, and he's a pipsqueak! Why bother?!"

Silvia knew better. That small height is the bane of all tall fighters, because of their sheer speed and vanishing attacks. Which was exactly how Sokoto avoided getting the sock for a full three minutes. She couldn't even grab his hair.

"Rrgh!" She was getting frustrated, "HOLD STILL!" and decided to come at him with full force and speed, with one swing to end it all.

Sokoto smirked, "Big mistake."

As soon as she threw the punch, he used it as leverage to get under her arm. She was barely able to see him coming and immediately moved to block her face. But he launched his feet at her head and her ribs. She felt it, and coughed a bit of wind out. She saw his hands coming and thought he would try to hit her armpits to disable her arm. But, nope. He went two for the face, and a foot for the gut. He quickly landed and uppercut to her chin.

She fell over on her back. A confirmed TKO. None of the women could believe what they had seen. A small fry man penis take down the best collegiate MMA fighter in the region? Unreal. Untrue. And yet here it was. While all the women scrambled to get their hero back on her feet, Silvia and Akari ran to their personal hero.

"Yeah!" Silvia and Sokoto twirled, "We did it! We did it! We di-we di-we did it!"

"I can't believe it..." Akari muttered, "I lashed out at them..."

"Yeah, and?" Sokoto asked.

"It was...liberating...like a chain just...poof..." Akari said.

"Oh, we're going there, aren't we..." Sokot sighed.

"After we go over there," Silvia pointed and dragged the trio away.

But none of the women would allow it. One of them threw a fork at them, but Sokoto caught it.

"You turn back right now and apologize!" She shouted, "You think you can walk away after what you did?!" She threw a knife at them, and it was caught as well.

"All we wanted was a place to eat together," Silvia said, "It wasn't any of you business."

"It IS my business!" She threw a spoon and it was caught, "Women made this school, and men ruined it! I paid up the ass for it! And men get the freeloader bonus!"

"Women made a public school, might I add," Silvia said.

"Should we say something?" Sokoto asked.

"Nah, just wait for her to come."

"Akari, under."

The woman finally had it. She grabbed the nearest chair and rushed over to the trio to prevent them from leaving the building. She swung high, "College is for women," and swung down.

Sokoto kicked the chair out of her hands. Silvia punched her throat to topple her over. Akari grabbed her feet and crashed her through the window. All three jumped outside and held her hostage, knife to the heart, spoon to the eyes, fork to the throat. The woman finally understood the situation she was in when the trio together said,

"YOU ARE GUILTY OF VIOLATING THE RIGHT TO LIFE. YOU SHALL BE JUDGED."

The woman couldn't scream, for that would be the last sound she would make. She couldn't move a millimeter. She couldn't even blink. What was she to do?

Sokoto decided on his sentence when he confirmed her aura going blue-gray. He moved the silverware aside, then stood up. He signaled everyone to move along, before he handed down judgement. "Live with defeat," he said while walking away, "Remember this humiliation, and never raise your being against another man. Do this, and maybe you would live." He planted the silverware on the ground, in the form of a cross, to fifth-degree-burn the memory into her mind, "Should you forget, the wrath of human life be upon you." And he ran to catch up with Silvia and Akari, "Hey, wait up!"

The woman just stared at the silver cross in disbelief. But that quickly subsided to pacified disapproval. The rest of the gang stood behind her.

"We can't allow this to go on at all," the tall woman said.

"He shall not go unpunished..." was all the trio heard before a...don't ask how...vomit grenade exploded. Then they just heard the shriek of their nightmares.

"Ah...music to my ears..." Sokoto said.

"Since when'd you find the time to make a puke grenade?!" Silvia winced.

"Since you took so long at the mall."

"It was just one hour!"

Akari was still just as shocked as she was when they first set foot into the campus. The IS was only supposed to be a machine, a battle suit to be won by brute force. And yet she just witnessed an IS that can interact with objects and people. Just like now, when an IS was bickering with its pilot.

Kinda like...

"AAAAAGH!" Akari crouched into fetal position and covered her ears, "NOOOOOO!"

"Hey! What's wrong?!" Silvia grabbed her shoulders, "Snap out of it!"

"I hate him!" Akari murmured, "I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM!"

"Him is in Japan! Him isn't in America! You don't have to see him again," Silvia slowly calmed her down, "Shh...shh...it's ok...he's not here..."

"Yeah, someone had to have heard that," Sokoto frantically searched for something to act as a getaway car. He found something new and tried to pry it open, "Hey, can you move this?!"

Just in time, too, because the campus police have arrived. As have the women they humiliated earlier.

"You in the black coat!" A policewoman shouted, "Hands in the air!"

"Betcha wish you were our placemat now, don't ya!" The woman shouted, "Now, hurry up and bend over like one!"

Sokoto surveyed the surroundings. Three police cars, four officers, ten women. The getaway car was behind them. Only one way to end it quickly. He played along and put his hands up.

"Finally," the woman walked over with the cuffs while everyone else cheered, "you're gonna pay for making a fool out of-" At which point her smile of satisfaction turned into a gasp of horror once she saw exactly what just came onto his hands.

"YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN," he slammed his hands forward and launched a Mini Radiant Gallic Grapple at her stomach, "IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN FIVE MINUTES!" then propelled his metal fist into her face. When it connected, he launched his hook at a cruiser's hood and somehow made the engine explode, sending shrapnel down an officer's neck. He swung the hook around to another car, reeling himself into the hood and giving the two officers a metal kick in the nose. Then he threw himself on top of the last car, dealt with the last officer, and shot a mega ball at the crowd. He made sure that everyone was down, then retracted everything and regrouped with Silvia.

"That was way too close!" Silvia said after getting the getaway car working.

"And it's about to get closer," Sokoto said, "Everyone inside, brave yourself for a car chase."

 **-PAST CALUMET RIVER, COOK COUNTY; 11:55-**

Autumn was having a bit of fun with the group. Just last night, she got involved with starting a riot. Just a few hours ago, she sent a small town into Leonie-territory. Now, she's leading the group across the road, in a luxury van, with a view of the lake. She checked the status of the others using her rear view mirror. Madoka was chilling in the backseat with a Walkman. Cecilia and Chelsea were staring out the window talking about what to do when Ichika comes for them (trying to).

The last time she heard from Sokoto was an hour ago, with a shot of Silvia and Sokoto fighting over the steering wheel, and Akari screaming over the IS pilots pursuing them. The caption was titled, "Next time on Fast and Furious!" for reasons unknown.

Autumn smiled, as she could finally enjoy some alone time. "Ok, who's up for a quick bite to eat?"

"I fancy myself some seafood," Cecilia said, "What about you?"

"I guess..." Chelsea said unsure.

"Good fucking Christmas, ok," Autumn's moment was ruined, "What about you? Wanna eat fish?"

"Hm?" Madoka removed an earbud, "Oh. Sure."

At least Madoka seemed like her old self. Autumn swerved onto the exit and plowed her way to the port.

Lunchtime was...unusual, to say the least. Instead of living it up with the people, they spent mealtime trying to tak to each other. Cecilia was munching on marinated bass, "Wow...never has sea meat taken on a more scrumptious form...you have to try this, Chelsea!"

"Uh, no thank you," Chelsea brushed her off, "I'm not feeling hungry..."

"Ok, what's up?" Cecilia asked, "You've been balls-up in a mess of heart pus. What is on your mind?"

Chelsea just twirled her fork around, "Well...can you really forget everything that happened?"

"Hm?" Cecilia swallowed a mouthful before washing it down with Canada Dry, "Well...we can't really forget anything. At all."

"Yeah, but...the airport? The volcano? The Ichika? Does none of that mean anything to you?"

"Hmm...it used to," Cecilia suddenly got a little somber when she said that, "Actually, it still does. But I learned to not dwell on it. I moved on, per se."

"What does that even mean?"

"Dunno...maybe it's the renegade rubbing off on me, or maybe the Academy years clouding my vision. But it just suddenly clicked. I got tired of feeling down all the time."

"How? How could you do that to him?"

"Well...I knew he's Ichika. And I know Sokoto's resemblance to Ichika. Sure they share some qualities, but they're different people who made their decision. Ichika doesn't want me, so be it. Sokoto wants to force the fire onto him, it's his choice. And I have to accept it."

"So, that's it then? You two are just strangers now?!"

"Guess so. Nothing more than a pair of glancing wanderers trudging on the path of life."

"But...will you forget what he did?"

"No. But that's probably all I'll remember about him."

"I don't..." Chelsea was shocked. To see that Cecilia will move on as if never having met Ichika, or Houki, or any other friend, was disturbing, "Well, what about us, then?"

"Well..." Cecilia mused, "We could pick up where we left off."

Chelsea looked up. What did she just hear? She thought her ears were malfunctioning, "I'm sorry, what?"

Cecilia slid to her the friendship bracelets she saved. Chelsea just looked on with optimistic confusion, while Cecilia explained, "I couldn't destroy them at all. Too many memories make for an impenetrable trinket. So, maybe we could, I don't know, refine it?"

Chelsea stared at the bracelets, as if to scan every single memory embedded in it. There was a lot she missed out on in the days she hadn't been in contact with Cecilia. What has happened to her to quickly take the renegade's side? Maybe she could follow along with her, but that would require...what was more important? Her goals, or her friends? Should be a no-brainer, but the raping screwed everything up. Maybe it's because she needed someone to comfort her, and it wasn't the person she wanted. Ok, so it's that petty, but whatever gets her off the sad stool.

Chelsea took the bracelets off the table, "Or we could start over..."

"?!?!" Cecilia was surprised.

"I mean...we were friends, and then we weren't..." Chelsea explained, "So...we can be friends again..."

"Well..." Cecilia struggled to think of a straight answer, because of the implications that carried, but finally gave up, "Ok... I guess we could start there..." But then she had the nerve to swipe back the bracelets and chuck them into the rubbish bin.

"WHYYYY?!" Chelsea freaked, "The memories..."

"What?" Cecilia came off as taking it the wrong way, but in actuality, she's triggering her most precious memories in hopes of releasing her true self, something very renegade-like, "I thought we could make new ones?"

"YOU CAN'T MAKE MEMORIES OUT OF THE BLUE!"

"Aren't we making our own right now?"

"THE WRONG ONE! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!"

"Uh," Cecilia was thinking about what would be the best way to pay back her debt to Sokoto, without using the body as he insisted.

Outside, Autumn heard the entire thing via private communication channels, "THANK THE HOLY MOONSHINE SHE'S CURED! HUUUUuuhhhh..." She slumped over the rail and dunked herself in the lake, unintentionally splashing water on Madoka.

"WHAT. THE HELL. WAS THAT." Madoka growled.

Autumn came up to the surface and spat out water, "M? What're you doing down here?"

"That," Madoka pointed behind her to TWENTY-FIVE DEAD BODIES WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HOLY SHIT FUCKERY DOO DAH DAY!

"Opioids?" Autumn just so casually asked.

"And trafficking," Madoka answered in a monotone-ugh jesus forget it.

"Oh. Weird, I could've sworn you were just napping here," Autumn deployed her IS and floated her way up.

Until Madoka stopped her, "Why'd you do that?"

"Duwat?" Autumn quipped.

"Why'd you help me snap her out of it?"

A major call back to every single interaction Autumn had with her after the Canada rescue. Not only how she saw her try to fix Cecilia right and how she stepped in and took over after she was on the verge of losing herself, but also how she interacted with Madoka in the very few days they were thrust into the foray, and how they had to work together to stay alive, and have a it of fun while on the road.

Autumn briefly thought of a response (briefly=in 0.33 seconds), "I owed you," before floating away.

Triggering a call back for Madoka to Mt. Fuji, when she sacrificed her shoulders to save Autumn from falling into the lava. By the way, why did she do that? She spent the entire trip wondering why. Only when Autumn finally left her alone under the port restaurant did she figure out the answer.

"It ain't me you owe," Madoka whispered looking back at the now repaired shoulders. She sat down on a lateral support beam and stared at the rolling clouds. She wondered if there was an even bigger change coming their way, as if the renegade wasn't big enough. She sighed and stared back at the...dead body raft, "Is anybody gonna eat this dead guy?"


	2. Let The Sparks Fly

_Part 2: Let the Sparks Fly_

 **-JEREMY'S PACKAGE STORE, MILLER-BOWIE COUNTY BORDER; 15:22-**

Ichika's team regrouped with Kanzashi's team outside the one restaurant where tensions were running low. Texas has confirmed that they will vote Barton, while Arkansas has confirmed that they will vote Leonie. And this restaurant was the only place with a "No Fight" policy. And a TV showing Barton talking about the town hall last minute question!

"Why didn't you just kick him off and say you're out of time?"

"First off, that's borderline rude."

"It's not rude if you say there's no time!"

"There's five minutes left, Second off, that's yanking the First Amendment from a select few, which is blaming an entire people on a few troublemakers."

"Don't you think we need to do something to straighten out the men in this country?"

"Like, what? Restricting their rights?"

"Well-"

"I can't believe you're still hung up on this. This is exactly what happens when you force change too soon."

"Oh my god..." Kanzashi rubbed her eyes, "It's still going?"

"Yep," Tina said, "Still going." They both sipped their drinks.

"Since when did Ichika and Laura get along so well?" Kanzashi noticed the two outside talking.

"Since I told her to take it easy," Tina winked.

"No!" Kanzashi was genuinely impressed, "You're still on that?!"

"Uh-huh! A true woman never relinquishes her target, no matter what."

Kanzashi took that to heart, as she decided to see what Ichika (AND THE OTHERS?!) were talking about.

"I can't believe it! You're not supposed to be a pilot!" Which attracted a Leonie supporter, apparently.

"And yet, I am," Ichika successfully tossed his sword into a trash can two blocks away.

"OOOOOOOOOOOH!" Everyone celebrated, except the women.

"This isn't happening! You shouldn't be able to move that thing an inch!" She said.

"Actually," Laura butted in, "he's been able to move it for over five years now. And where were you when he struck down the leader of the most wanted terrorist organization in the world?"

"She's a woman!"

"She killed people."

"Only women can kill women!"

"So, you're saying let her ruin the world?" Anna demanded, "May I remind you that Phantom Task recruited the renegade?"

While the women and pilots were starting to argue-actually, the women sought to dominate the pilots-, the bartender grabbed a shotgun and stormed out the front door. She crashed through the glass and fired at Ichika, but the bullets bounced off his barrier, and scattered debris into the women.

"Ack-GOD! What the hell is with you?!" The women screamed, then immediately stopped when she saw the gun shift targets to her.

"Get your snide words outta my bar," the bartender growled.

"It's his fault for starting-" gunshot that barely missed her hair "-AAAH!"

"You gonna keep flapping your lips, missy?!"

And with that, the women were forced to withdraw, but they called the police once they were out of sight, forcing the teammates to leave.

Once they were inside Arkansas, they were ready to lay everything out on the table.

 **-HAMPTON INN, MILLER COUNTY; 16:44-**

"Oh, I cannot wait to see some action!" Tina plopped down on the lobby table, "So far, it's been nothing but political "AHH MY WORLD IS DYING" pansies. What happened?!"

"I don't wanna think about it..." Kanzashi groaned.

"So, how has your expedition been progressing?" Anna asked.

"It hasn't," Kanzashi answered, "The kid's basically an enigma. I dunno why I even bothered."

"Hah! I told you that he's a lost cause!" Tina jumped, "Now, if you'll excuse me," and jumped to give Ichika a hard time. Leaving Anna and Kanzashi alone.

Katherine briefly joined them, "So, what have you discovered?"

"I've discovered the end of the world," Anna passed over her flash drive.

"I've discovered all that is unholy," Kanzashi passed over hers.

"Uhhh..." Katherine seemed weirded out, "Sure..." and just walked away.

"Unholy?" Anna questioned her leader's judgement.

"I'm gonna forget everything I just saw..." Kanzashi stood up and walked towards Laura.

"I'm not," Anna reported to Chifuyu.

"So, how's the group reunion coming?!" Tina pounced on Laura's head.

"Just fine..." Laura muffled through Tina's chest.

"He-he-hey! That tickles!"

"Ok, let's rein our focus back on the task at hand," Ichika separated the two from any more cuddling.

"Sure thing!" Tina winked.

"Ok, is, everyone gathered together?" Kanzashi called everyone over, "I have received word that Chifuyu is tracking the renegade at the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. She believes that the renegade will strike California before Election Day. Now our job is to set up a trap for him and depower his IS before any more damage can be done."

"Should be easy to lure, given his reckless attraction to chaos," Laura commented, "but how can we depower him?"

"I think that's where I come in," Ichika said, "If I can get in close enough and hold onto him long enough to force the Streamline back to its default settings, then you can immediately follow up and pull him out. But I think we'll have to wear him out first."

"That's the problem," Laura said, "We can whittle him down...possibly...but we don't know where the rest of Phantom Task is."

"Or whether or not he's holding those girls hostage," Tina said.

"Wait-huh?" Everyone zoomed in on Tina's brain.

"Didn't you see?" Tina showed them a newly released image of the renegade, showing him running with a black-haired girl, and a life-sized Kagamine Rin doll, "Recently posted on MSNBC. Looks like the renegade has some groupies!"

"Hey, yeah...who is that?" Ichika asked.

"Did he invade a cosplayer's unfortunate moment?" Laura commented.

"Maybe she is a hostage," Anna speculated.

"Whoever it is, we have to get the answers out of him," Kanzashi said out loud. But deep down, she knows who that was, but can't wrap her brain around why word hasn't gotten out about it yet.

 **-GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, SEVIER COUNTY; 16:50-**

"That was insane!" Silvia laughingly screamed, "I can't believe I drove us out of the authority's tiny narrow cone of vision!"

"And into a forest gauntlet," Sokoto added, "How did you make the car explode just by ramming trees?"

Akari said nothing. She just knelt down and murmured on and on about how she was losing her sanity from just the past day. She's been dragged through house after house after car after car after close call after close call after life-or-death situation AFTER LIFE-OR-FUCKING-DEATH SITUATION! She's had to witness many different kinds of abuse in just the past few hours! They could have been at Florida by now, if not for two things: the endless blockades created by both pursuing pilots and police, and (unsurprisingly) the renegade. Every time his Aura Sense tingles something negative, he just had to make a pit stop to prank the bad vibes. Girl trying to rape a guy? Mooned her. Attempted robbery? Pantsed. Adults trying to bully a child? Gay kiss. Spoiled child? Scary surprise box.

DON'T YOU HAVE SOME SEX SLAVES TO LIBERATE, YOU DORK GOOFBALL DINGALING WINGNUT KNUCKLEHEAD MCSPAZZATRON?!

KID?!

God, he's just as freeloading as- "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" -eh, sanity was always overrated.

"Right, we were on our way to Florida," Silvia sighed.

"You calm her down," Sokoto said, "I'll scout the area."

"Good," Silvia ran to Akari and put her hand on her head, "Hey, it's ok...he's long gone. He ain't coming back."

"I hate him! I hate him!" Akari yelled, "I HATE HIIIIIIIIM!"

"Ok! Ok! Ok! Ok!" Silvia bear-hugged her, "Uh, onii-chan? Are you coming back soon?"

"I dunno," Sokoto poked his head out into a small pond, "I've got a nasty butt rash, and I gotta figure out how to get rid of it."

"Are you sure that's not just Akari?!" Silvia commed over.

"Positive," Sokoto stepped into some more greens before feeling a stronger rash. He knew a rash when he felt it, and this was not a rash. It had a cunning feeling, coupled with a touch of killing intent. He scratched his back again, trying to discern the direction of this distinct aura from the absolute mess that was Akari. That's when he could get a better feel for it. "And here I was scavenging for scraps..." he sensed it rapidly approaching a threw a metal fist in its direction.

Unfortunately, it was caught by the one woman he didn't want to fight.

"Long time no chat," she came rushing in, dragging his fist, and him, through half a mile of pure forest.

"You hear something?" Silvia asked out loud. She and Akari turned their attention to the noisy rummaging of the leaves.

They both freaked out when the rummager popped out onto the road and blazed their way.

Silvia even more so, "CHIIIICHICHICHICHIIIIIICHIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~" She threw herself and Akari into the bushes to dodge the human bulldozer.

Chifuyu threw Sokoto into a tree. He barely smacked it before she hit him with an x-slash. She backed off when he tried to get a kick on her. She flipped over and landed on her feet, while he stumbled and stood himself up. They stared each other down for a few seconds before Chifuyu got the first word.

"Aren't you a little too young to be causing this much assholery?" She asked.

"I've been delivering since I was three," Sokoto deployed everything except his wings, "This ain't nothing new."

"Oh?" Chifuyu took her battle stance, "And what might be you delivering this time?"

Sokoto simply revealed the pink ribbon she held onto and let it fly with the wind, "Salvation."

Much to the shock of Chifuyu, "Where...did you get that..."

"Your former student Cecilia gave that to me," Sokoto explained, "Your other former student, Charlotte Somestupidname, she's being holed up in the nameless key like some captive pig, except she's being used to make even more pigs. I'm aiming to break her out of that holding pen and let her live a free life."

Chifuyu could not believe her ears. She had heard of the massive rescue mission Phantom Task undertook, so she went her to confirm for herself. This was her nail in the coffin. So many things people were saying about the renegade were right, but some were flat out wrong. If she had spent her life without a brother or twin sister, he would be her result. It was like looking in a multidimensional mirror for her. Weird time to get a flash away, too. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite her in the ass.

'Ok,' Chifuyu thought to herself, 'Motivation seems...fine? Gotta check his determination, though,' she charged ahead at a very high speed. He barely dodged her sword, but she was able to trap him by forcing him to block her kick, "Like I'd believe that pile of skunk dong!" The sheer recoil force of the block was enough to skid him back, but she was able to further disorient him by swinging her swords around him and back to her, choking him with strings alone. Instead of breaking out, he allowed it, using the sharp snag of the string as a momentum to thrust two energy balls into her ribs and armpit. She twisted around to avoid one of the balls, but she blocked the other ball, causing her to be propelled away from the renegade. She reclaimed one of her swords, but he kept hold of the other. He rung it around his neck to free himself of the string choke, then held it out in front of him.

He took a Kendo fighting stance, "Get set to get decked!"

That phrase triggered a double flash for Chifuyu. It was something Ichika said long ago, when Ichika was still training in Kendo. The pose itself was a callback to when he was able to fight her as her equal. "What kind of emotional assault is this?!" She screamed, but she quickly regained her composure once the swords connected. From there, it was a very strange trip down memory colosseum, as the entire fight was eerily reminiscent of the first semifinal match of the Third Mondo Grosso (before the Phantom Task brouhaha). She personally entered the competition to test Ichika's fortitude, to see if he was ready to be on his own. The thing is, in that fight, her opponent had the Barrier Void Ability, so that fight was figuratively on equal ground, but here she had a distinct advantage: she was better than him. Faster, stronger, and more agile than him. And yet, she never felt the urge to go all out. While he was struggling to keep up with her, she was busy remembering the good times, when Ichika was bumbling around the house while his harem drove him insane. And then she realized, what even was this kid? She remembered him besting Tabane twice, but that was it. Destroying Japan, was that just a byproduct?

She decided to end the remembrance when he released a Radiant Gallic Grapple. The beam actually split into two when it contacted with her katana. When he grappled towards the Brunhilde, he positioned his free arm so that it would block the inevitable shank to his face. Too bad he didn't see it go for his chest. She got a good hit in and reclaimed her second sword before she backed away from him. He keeled over before recovering. She stuck another landing and pointed a sword at him. He prepared to charge, but then he noticed that his chest was hurting more than usual.

"What's wrong?" She taunted, "Feel a void in your gut?"

"Huh..." with that one line, he figured out that she could bypass his barrier too, "I thought the Absolute Defense was-" red line connecting two red dots "-EEK! DERP!"

"Ahahahahahaaa!" Silvia didn't even try, "Vampire baby suckle?! Haaaahahahahahahaaa!"

"Rrrrgh, AND WHAT EXACTLY WERE YOU DOING THIS WHOLE TIME?!" He snapped.

"Watching for more ass kickers! Haha!"

"SHALL I SEND MY VAMPIRE BABIES ON YOU, THEN?!"

And Chifuyu got to the point of complete absolute confusion. One for a holographic projection of an IS showing a human emotion. Another for the renegade thinking he's lactating blood, instead of thinking about the fight. And one more for what she discovered about him. Shocker: this kid meant it. Actually, one more thing: she's looking at a younger version of Ichika if he never knew the difference between a vagina and a piñata. Boy, was he going to have a hell of a fight on his hands should they collide once again. And they will. But to her, this was a familiar sensation, as if she and Ichika encountered him before, in a time long forgotten.

"Oh boy..." Chifuyu muttered, "The past has come back to haunt us..."

"Wuzzat?!" Sokoto heard something buzz out of her mouth, "You're gonna pay for turning me into a blood mom!"

"WAAAIIIIIIIIT!" Silvia suddenly shouted.

"WHAT NOW?!" Sokoto demanded.

Silvia clapped her hands and waved open a radar, revealing a ton of red dots encompassing four green ones, "POLEEEEEECE!"

"Oh no..." Sokoto looked back at Chifuyu and realized that she was stalling him. He quickly ran through the options available to him and Akari. Only one seemed the most feasible. "A moving battle." He IB'd diagonal upward. He saw Chifuyu leap up and throw a sword at him. He quickly retracted his IS an twirled around, making the sword barely miss his ribs, "Silvia!" Sokoto dove down, made contact with Chifuyu's attempted kick, and simply swung under it, "Leave Akari to me! Zap the cars into each other!"

"What about demon woman?!" Silvia moved Akari onto the road to use as a human shield and a car opening person.

Sokoto somersaulted on the ground and ran for hell, "I'll hold her off!"

Sokoto activated his shield bracelet right when it contacted with Chifuyu's katanas. He threw it down to throw Chifuyu off the trail, but she ended up throwing it back at them. He deployed just his arms and tried to catch her swords, but kept missing and taking cuts all over his body.

Silvia saw him sacrifice himself to let Akari escape and decided to get over her fear of the Brunhilde to join him. One moment she dunked her clothes in the bag, and literally the next moment she was directly behind Chifuyu, a metal gauntlet plonking a hand on the shoulder of the strongest woman in the world.

Chifuyu stopped frozen and slowly turned her head.

"I'm sorry..." Silvia squeaked before she swatted Chifuyu away.

"Whoa!" Sokoto shouted, "How'd you steal my glove?!"

"I'm not sure..." Silvia marveled at her recent accomplishment, "I just felt...Hey, ain't this my gauntlet?!"

"Oh...well, learn to share!"

Silvia blew a raspberry at him.

"THE HELL?!" Chifuyu threw a three branch that went through Silvia like she wasn't even there. "How are you even able to do that?!"

Sokoto and Silvia linked their arms together and bumped fists, "Why? You're too old!"

And with that line, Chifuyu was sent out of her mind. Silvia and Sokoto backed away as Chifuyu lunged at them, katanas ready to slice some metal.

It did. Just...a pea sized amount.

"What was-" Chifuyu stammered before obnoxiously loud sirens blanketed the area, police cars surrounding them, "Well, ain't that a crap..."

"You in the black jacket!" The policewoman boomed over the megaphone, "Release the girl and get on your knees!"

"Ok, what didn't we tell them..." Silvia said when she saw them taking Akari away.

"What are you doing?! Why haven't you shot yet?! They dragged me into this!" Akari protested.

"She's definitely poisoned," the officer said, "Get her into the ambulance."

"Do I have to give more commentary?..." Sokoto groaned.

"You want onii-chan?!" Silvia swiped both gauntlets and prepared to fight, "You gotta go through me!" She lost all confidence when she 'felt' a bullet go through her head, "Uh-oh, I think the secret's out..." She quickly gave everything back to Sokoto and fizzled to his shoulder.

"ENOUGH TALK!" A policewoman boomed, "BRING HIM TO ME!"

At that point, it was a free-for-all. Everyone fired on the people that weren't in uniform. Sokoto deployed and made quick work of the police cars. Silvia fried all their circuits. And Chifuyu was just watching the dream team do their work. To think that the scuffle with him and the Gospel was no joke, that was something scary. But what was scarier was a random car just plowing through the whole pile. Sokoto stopped when he recognized that familiar, cold aura. Chifuyu decided to retreat for the time being, but not before she laced a tracking nano liquid inside the Streamline.

"Hey!" Sokoto sensed her ducking out, "I ain't done with you!"

"Onii-chan, seriously!" Silvia threw a car his way to stop his pursuit, "Why'd you wanna fight-" snickers "-her..."

"I shall lactate a thousand curses upon her!" Sokoto shook his fists.

"2300 missiles!"

"THEN, 2300 CURSES!"

Another car swerved around them, "You wanna get away, or what?!"

Silvia nodded to Sokoto, who retracted his IS and followed Silvia into the car. Chifuyu watched the car speed away, uncertain of the driver. Especially that weird ruffled hair and the ponyt-

"What are the consequences of what I'm about to do..." she groaned, "Karolina, I've marked the renegade. Converge on his location ASAP."

Meanwhile in the getaway car, which has already blown past a couple roadblocks...

"The hell are you doing here?!" Sokoto shouted.

"Me or her or her?" The driver said.

"I dunno...all of you?!" Sokoto screamed.

"Oh hey!" Silvia dunked herself in the bag, "How'd you keep all my stuff, Akari?"

"Well..." Akari stammered, "I just had to..."

"Ahh..." Silvia stretched out of the bag and next to Akari, "That feels nice..."

"Huh...so, what's your deal?" Sokoto asked the driver.

"Me?" The driver looked at him through the rear view mirror, "Just looking for a little spunk, is all."

Sokoto squinted. Something about that woman's lovey-dovey aura threw him the wrong way. "Uh, Forte?" He asked, "What's the deal with this woman?"

"You've been on her catch list for so long," Forte joked, "that I've been reduced to a third wheel."

"Are you sure you're not trying to kill us?" Silvia questioned.

"They said..." Akari seems unsure.

"Relax! We're all friends here!" The driver reassured them, "though some more than others."

"And who's we?!"

"Daryl," The driver held her hand out to Sokoto, "Daryl Cayce is my name."

"Daryl..." Sokoto slowly reached out to shake her hand, but sharply withdrew it when he remembered, "Autumn and Madoka warned me about you! Sil, she's Squall's niece!"

"So you know..." Daryl muttered, then nodded to Forte.

"Dude!" Silvia said, "That means we have a crew now!"

"Guess so," Sokoto said. But in his mind, he could not shake the uneasiness off his mind. Something about their calm and passionate auras didn't seem right, especially when he fought the wild and deranged sides of Forte. Unfortunately, his suspicions were confirmed when Daryl turned the car into a road bound for Knoxville. "Hey!" He screamed, "Aren't we supposed to go to Florida?!"

"What for?" Forte asked.

Silvia caught onto Forte's mocking tone, "We have to rescue Charlotte Dunois..."

"Why would you rescue the whore?" Daryl didn't bat an eye.

"Yeah, ok..." Sokoto activated his shield bracelet while Silvia prepared Akari for bailout.

Daryl saw that through the rear view mirror and threw a Canceller at him, while Forte tased him. Sokoto was down on the car floor, while Silvia was zapped back to his shoulder.

"Whoa! What the-" Silvia winced, "Hey, you ok?!"

"Dunno..." Sokoto panted, "Can't...move..."

The core did affect him; he shouldn't have been able to be conscious after being tased for so long! Akari didn't see that and just shoved him out the door. Sokoto's rolling around the road whacked the Canceller on the concrete enough times to destroy it.

"Oh, that's gonna leave a mark..." Sokoto recovered from the roll.

"What happened..." Silvia spun around.

"Well, Akari just kicked us...out..." Sokoto suddenly noticed that one aura has disappeared.

"Onii-chan!" Silvia pointed to the car, which came to a complete stop, with an ice crystal sticking out the back window... and out Akari's throat.

"No..." Sokoto shook the pain off and ran towards the car, "NO! YOU BAST-" incoming Freeze Lancer "-AAAAAAAAGH..." He fully deployed in time to prevent any fatal wounds, but he couldn't prevent the frost bite, "Nngh...what...are you...up...to..."

"Darn..." Daryl said while exiting the car, "Now you broke more than just my heart..."

"Should've told you he would never get with it..." Forte said as she fully deployed her Celsius's Tear, tearing the car, and Akari, into pieces, "My bad, girl..."

"Oh, no big," Daryl took her twin guns out and aimed them at Sokoto, "You just skipped the useless foreplay, is all. I like it when you go straight to the point."

"You're kidding..." Sokoto butt in, "Then, why'd you have to kill her for?!"

"So, she wouldn't get in the way," Forte unleashed another Freeze Lancer on Sokoto, who was able to dodge it in time to blank a kick in Forte's side, and caught one of Daryl's bullets right after.

"Ow!" Sokoto yelped, "What..."

"It's the bullets!" Silvia shouted, "They've got Barrier Void tech in them!"

Confirmed by Sokoto when he retracted his right arm and saw a small graze in his elbow. He quickly guarded against another Freeze Lancer, but that left him susceptible to another shot from Daryl. He was able to avoid a fatal wound, but the bullets grazed his leg and arm. Sokoto fell back away from Forte's CQC range to buy some recovery time.

"Now we do this the right way, renegade," Daryl declared, "Why don't we settle this over a rendezvous at the Tennessean Personal?"

"The hell are you on about?..." Sokoto grunted through the re-emerging frostbite.

"I've always had my eye on you, kid," Daryl explained, "Ever since you made Fuji-san blow up in everyone's face."

"Psst," Silvia whispered, "Keep her monologuing."

"And now, long story short," Daryl continued, "I want you all to myself."

"Dafuq?..." Sokoto duhhh'd, "Couldn't you have said that more subtly?..."

"Time's ticking," Forte interrupted, "You wouldn't want your friends to be caught up in our little conquest, would you?" She showed a holographic projection of Phantom Task causing a ruckus by having two protests clash with each other...while being watched by several of Forte's hires thugs.

"You...wouldn't...dare..." Sokoto tried to stand back up, but he got shunted by an ice needle.

"Come on, kid!" Forte suddenly switched tone, "You're embarrassing me in front of your dead friends!"

"Your choice, bucko," Daryl gave the ultimatum, "Come with us, or die with your so-called friends."

For once in his life, Sokoto has a choice to make. It should seem easy, but the implications of that choice were never seeing the outside world ever again. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to make that choice yet, for a stray bullet tickled his hair and clipped Daryl's shoulder.

"Holy..." Silvia muttered.

Sokoto turned back to see who saved him from the love shack, "Who was...Ahahahaa! Am I glad to see you!"

An entire police squadron, the elite pilots he faced earlier, and Chifuyu came rushing to the scene.

"Dammit!" Forte cursed, "What now?!"

"Blow them all to bits, that's what!" Daryl cocked her guns.

"I have issue with that," Chifuyu said, drawing her swords against her.

"Caution, Almighty One!" Silvia cautioned her, "Her bullets are Bartier Void type..."

"Oh, are they..." that only excited Chifuyu.

This was a rare moment when Sokoto could take a backseat to the unfolding battle. In what other moment could you witness a cat fight and a mud fight, with a bunch of women referees, all in one night?

"The hell did you do, Sil?"

"I threw a party!"


	3. The Second World Conference

_Part 3: The Second World Conference_

"Right, Wolf. What we've got here is a free-for-all, numerous IS pilots and police officers set out to confront the renegade. Still no word from the rest of Phantom Task, but judging from what we're seeing here, we are able to determine that Forte Sapphire and Rain Meusel are in the scuffle as well. They were part of the old Phantom Task terrorist group, not sure what they have on the renegade-"

And thus set the scene for the next chaotic battle. In that tiny stretch of concrete, Sokoto and Silvia laid one side of the road, staring down the pilot team he took down earlier, as well as Daryl and Forte, who had their worries with Chifuyu. Everyone was surrounded by police and helicopters. News and live streams of the ensuing fight spread across the country like a virus. The pilots that were not participating in the fight were watching with tense eyes, curious to witness the power of the renegade firsthand.

"Pay attention, Ichika," Chifuyu murmured, "This is what the renegade is capable of."

"Back away from my prize," Daryl shifted targets to Chifuyu, "the renegade is coming with me."

"We've been through this before," Chifuyu said, "You can't take what was never yours."

"I thought you bitches would be all over the renegade," Forte taunted, "Did he manage to rough you up into his pets?"

"Oh, we're after him," Laurel said, "but you're also on the wanted list."

The police were seemingly there to spectate. They would never interrupt something that could get them all killed, would they? That's what Sokoto thought, at first. But then, he noticed a familiar aura. It was faint, but it felt royal...calculated... and slightly quirky. He surprised everyone by firing a Radiant Gallic Grapple at the helicopter. Once he was reeled in-

"PAGAN WOMAAAAAAA-"

-he punched the smoke out of that helicopter, only to be blocked by the Commander of the Schwarzer Hase.

"You are already dead."

He got with a Double Barrel Blast.

"Crap, not her too-HEY!" Daryl got distracted by the sudden appearance of the Black Rabbit death squadron that she didn't notice Chifuyu nearly slice her head off. She quickly retaliated, but none of the bullets got through.

"Just like when you were in your third year!" Chifuyu taunted, "You never once took anything seriously!" She kicked Daryl's armpit and downed her on the side of the road.

"I always hated you and that human mule gigolo!" Daryl fired back, only to leave herself wide open.

Chifuyu knocked Daryl's guns away, then spun herself vertically and uncontrollably, "OBVIOUS SYMPHONIA REFERENCE!"

Daryl activated her hidden edge armor to counter Chifuyu's attack, only to lose it all and suffer two brutal hits from the hilts, and one non-fatal slash across the shoulder line. She was then kicked off the street and into the bushes.

"Tch..." Chifuyu said, "Just as I expected... you got nothing." She turned her attention to the explosion in the sky.

Which was obviously caused by Sokoto, "Hey, look! I have a fan club!"

"How dare you!" One of the Schwarzer Hase did not take that to kindly and fired a round of bullets, which he dodged.

"No, don't-" Clarissa was too late. The bullets flew right into some of the police force.

"Poop..." Sokoto muttered before leaping back into the fray.

"Sic 'em!" Clarissa and her unit charged headfirst into the chaos. All five of them had AICs installed, and they were able to trap Sokoto in their own square.

"Urk...Sil?" Sokoto genuinely did not expect that.

"Ehhkkeeehhhhueeeuhhh... (I can't move...)" Even as a sprite, Silvia was subjected to the AIC.

"Kyaaaaaaa!" One of pilots was freaked out, "Commander!"

"The rumors were wrong after all," Clarissa hovered close and took out a flash drive, "We must extract the data to confirm."

"EKHHEHK?! (EXTRACT?!)" Silvia was disturbed.

Sokoto somehow linked data extraction to unanesthized direct blood transfusion, "PAGANS! VAMPIRE PAGANS!"

"Am I weird for taking that as a compliment?..." Clarissa muttered before moving the flash drive in closer. But she stopped short of ice crystals bombarding the group out of nowhere. The unit was able to evade the attack, but Sokoto wasn't. He was left to freeze all by himself in the after frost.

"How do they fight in the wintertime?..." Sokoto seethed through chattering teeth, while Silvia floated by his head in an ice cube.

Meanwhile, Forte was slinging ice all over the battlefield. The pilots had trouble with finding a solid weakness. Daryl had woken up from a knockout and took some pot shots at unsuspecting pilots. Some of the police noticed fire from the bushes and fired on Daryl's location. Chifuyu decided to leave Daryl alone and concentrate on Forte, noticing delay in charging ice attacks. Forte noticed Chifuyu and tried to swing her scythe at her, but Chifuyu was already at her face by the time the blade came around. Forte blocked one sword, but the other got in her neck, clipping a quarter of her shield energy. The two separated, narrowly avoiding Daryl's sudden bullet stream, which hit at some pilots and policewomen. Sokoto was still juggling with the Schwarzer Hase elite, now fully aware of each unit's AIC capabilities, deciding on a quick double-fake-take maneuver, evading after each successful hit, to whittle them down over time, while Silvia was electronic-hopping, doing everything she can to keep the casualties at a minimum.

Although there was this nagging itch on the side of Sokoto's head he couldn't ignore. It felt similar to the sensation at that one marathon. He decided to deflect a rocket at that direction.

And it hit a giant water shield that threw Tatenashi into the fray with virtually no effort.

"Ouch!" She yelped, "Hey, keep her snyegromotts to herself!"

Chifuyu recognized that voice. She was the first, and only, student to survive her full wrath. She momentarily thought about going after Forte, but then she saw the renegade lead the Schwarzer elite to the Celsius's Tear. She seized the opportunity and dashed towards the spot where the rocket blasted.

Tatenashi peeked through the bushes and saw her former teacher gunning towards her, "Yep...saw this coming..." She set her lance to blast water bullets the instant it met Chifuyu's sword strike. It struck, but Chifuyu was too fast to shoot. Tatenashi simply ended up getting a boot.

"The bitch traitor..." Chifuyu hissed.

Tatenashi considered trying to reason with Chifuyu, until some dark thought in her mind thought that this would be a fantastic opportunity to gather combat data from a never-before-seen IS. That resulted in the following words, "Just as ignorant as those other bitches."

Prompting Chifuyu to not hold back, "At least I wasn't the one who shoved a rocket into somebody's brother!"

"Her, again?" Sokoto mused before being clobbered by Laurel and Clarissa.

"Remember, onii-chan," Silvia commed after she got her gear back, "We need to shake the pursuers off!"

"I think every person we meet counts as a pursuer!" Sokoto said while bouncing off blocked and failed attempt to punch something, "Just do something about Fatal Attraction down there!"

"Right!" Silvia hung up on her nonexistent earpiece and activated Sokoto's shield bracelet, then turned behind her to face Daryl, "I trust you have no objections?"

"How the hell are you able to do that..." Daryl was just now processing the phenomenal discovery of a sentient IS.

"An explanation like that would sound like gibberish to you," Silvia tapped her chest, "You have less than ten seconds before the police see you."

Daryl immediately fired at Silvia, but she used the shield to deflect the shots back towards the police people. One of them inadvertently hit Forte.

"Agh!"

Which provided a giant opening for Sokoto to pounce on, and for the other pilots to collide in.

"No! Forte-UGH!" Daryl's gut was hit by the shield.

"There she is!" Silvia pointed, "The one in league with the renegade!"

"How many more traitors are there?!" The policewoman shouted, "Ring in every last one of them!"

"Poop," Silvia said as they grabbed her hand. She quickly scissored around the officer's body and smacked the shield on her head. The others took note and tried to swing their batons at her, only to see them phase through her head. "Ha!" Silvia kicked her captors down and left Daryl to fend for herself.

Outside, Chifuyu was lured by Tatenashi to force Forte in front of the massive number of people gunning for Sokoto's head. She led Forte on, purposefully leaving herself open for one of Forte's attacks, only for the opportunity to be squashed by a pilot that was too focused on the renegade to know what was happening. Sokoto was busy dealing pot shots and glancing blows that he completely forgot about the chaos below him. He decided to end it here and ran as many people as possible.

 **-HAMPTON INN, MILLER COUNTY; 17:10-**

Back in the hotel's lobby, the pilots saw every bit of the renegade's movement. Although they couldn't discern much of the surrounding chaos, they could discern that there was a method to the motions.

"Insane..." Kanzashi said, "I had no idea the core affected him that much.."

"How did he know Clarissa was in that chopper?!" Laura yelped, "And Tatenashi was behind those bushes?! There's no radar in combat mode!"

"It's just like in Aokigahara...he knew I was in that pile of rubble before I showed myself..." Ichika has a nightmarish flashback.

"More imprtantly," Tina paused the TV and rewound a bit to where they saw a punch completely pass through the girl, "Look at that. That's the same shield that the renegade uses on occasion."

"You don't mean..."

"Yep," Kanzashi said, "based on the data I swiped from those scientists in Canada...this is the Silverio Gospel part 2."

"You mean...the IS is now a sentient being?!" Laura exclaimed.

"More than that," Kanzashi explained, "It's a living being. It can talk. It can feel. It can throw things. It can interact. You know how communication with an IS is key to being a pilot? Well, this is communication to the extreme. Basically, through interaction, communication, and some other third thing that's far beyond human level consciousness, the renegade has created life."

"Life from a machine?" Tina was very skeptical, "How the heck is that even possible?!"

"I have no idea," Kanzashi said, "but it happened."

"So then...what do we do now?" Ichika asked.

"We'll have to wait it out," Tina said, "The renegade will come to us. I'm sure of it."

"What's he doing in that region, anyway?" Ichika mused, "He doesn't go that far just to cause some chaos. There has to be a specific reason he's going there."

"Well, if that's the case, then why don't we just watch the scene unfold?" Tina said.

"Because who knows how much damage he'll cause to the surrounding landscape?" Kanzashi countered, "I can scope ahead and try to coordinate a surprise attack."

"I'm not so sure that would work," Ichika said, "If he can find you like he found me, then a direct confrontation would be more effective. If there are any suprises planned, it'll have to come from our minds and our backs."

"Damn..." Kanzashi said, "Well, what do you think, Laura? Laura? Uh, hello?"

Laura's mind immediately flashed back to Japan. How she interacted with the renegade and nearly changed her heart. Three times. First with the apartment spy mission, second with the tower takedown mission, and third when she saw the Silverio Gospel fight with the renegade perfectly in sync.

"Can we take him down, though?" Laura muttered, "Knowing what he's capable of, can we bring him down at all?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's managed to turn over Cecilia and Chelsea. How do we know he won't turn over anyone else?"

"Then, a swift assault," Kanzashi said, "Get in hard and fast."

"Hear, hear," Tina said.

 **-GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, SEVIER COUNTY; 17:20-**

Back on the battlegrounds, Silvia was picking up after herself, "Insult to injury, myyyyyyy..."

"Ahh, get over it," Sokoto dusted her off, "At least, we get to fight another..." He stared back at the car containing the now dead stiff formerly known as Akari. "...right, right..." He suddenly grabbed the shield and flung it in Daryl's direction.

It narrowly missed, only chopping off a part of her hair, "Hey! What was that for?!"

"That was for Akari, assface!" Sokoto propelled himself towards the shield, when he sensed Chifuyu and Forte racing towards him, at which point he slowed down dramatically to let Forte and Chifuyu hit each other. He tried again to latch onto the shield, but this time he was stopped by Tatenashi, who blocked off a bullet from Daryl. He and Tatenashi collided on the street before he was restrained by Tatenashi, "Let go, devil woman!"

"Not worth it!" Tatenashi struggled to hold on to the flailing yellow flounder.

"Get off!" Again, Sokoto propelled them both to the shield, this time straight into Daryl's line of fire. This time, he was able to avoid Daryl's bullets altogether, while swiping Tatenashi's lance from under her grasp and flinging a bunch of water at Daryl to lock her and her guns in place, and giving Tatenashi a free kick to her gut. Sokoto slid right in front of Daryl, with the lance pointed directly at her neck.

"We...were...THIS CLOSE! To getting her out of the rut!" Sokoto shouted, "And you just HAD to let that sicko needle neck her!"

"She was just a distraction, is all..." Daryl stammered, "Squeezing the life outta-"

"Can it, stress lady!" Sokoto activated the lance's internal gatling gun, "Save your excuses for Akari!" Sokoto was about to fire when Tatenashi suddenly recalled the lance and trapped him in a void of nanomachine-filled water, "Hey! Get me outta here, ya crazy skunk ba-HHHHHH." The water suddenly turned ice-cold.

"Now, is that any way to treat a lady?" Tatenashi walked past him, "If you're going to get someone out of the rut, you have to be just a tad more indirect." She knelt down and patted Daryl, "Look at this poor soul. You've only known each other for 15 minutes, and yet you've already scarred her for life."

"He was going to kill me..." Daryl kept repeating, "My hero...tried to kill me..."

"See?" Tatenashi said, "Why would you scar someone you've only heard of?"

Sokoto finally broke free of the ginalt water clump, "Well, she was the one who..." Oh. It was Forte.

"Yeah, maybe think a little before you go all nutjob on us..." Tatanashi slowly backed away from Daryl and prepared her nano-powered water for Chifuyu.

Who just swung her sword at the bark, only cutting of Tatenashi's hair, "How about you follow your own advice!" Chifuyu reeled herself in using the strings attached to the swords, "Or better yet, let an old mentor teach you firsthand!"

Chifuyu kicked down the tree, but her next sword strike was caught in Tatenashi's water barrier. Tatenashi tried to send her lance through, but Chifuyu got over the barrier and threw her sword at Tatenashi.

It was blocked by Sokoto's hook shield, "Seriously, where are we even going with this?!"

Forte tried to steady herself upright, but she was knocked down by Silvia.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Silvia said.

"Ngh...the hell is wrong with you..." Forte grunted.

"You are," Silvia stared back at the car, "We were this close to snapping her out of it..."

"Ok, look," Sokoto had finally lost it, "This day's got every single emotion mixed into one jumbled mess! Can we please just call it a day and go our seperate ways?!"

"You're a naive little rascal," Forte shouted, "This world's gonna eat you up!"

"Yeah, I already know that," Sokoto said, "That's why I'm gonna tear off its stomach before it can eat me up!"

"I've seen the horrors, kid! You're going to need someone to protect you!"

"Uh, maybe for a human shield, and have you even seen my exploits?"

"Have you done any of them on your own? Aren't you starving for a little bit of freedom?"

"Ok, we're gonna go in circles, aren't we?" Sokoto suddenly deployed his arms and fired off as many energy shots as he could, "Sil! Time to bail!"

"Get down!" Tatenashi covered Daryl with the nano-water, while Silvia tossed Forte into the firing radius. Chifuyu backed away and hid herself behind the car.

"I'm here!" Silvia said after strapping her bag onto Sokoto, "Time off!" The two flew out of the scene and into another forest far away from the battlesite.

"Ok," Sokoto said, "What are the odds of an obligatory rematch with _Duhh_ and _Duhh_ er?"

"Pretty high," Silvia peeked out of the bag, "Speaking of, why didn't you try to prevent a rematch with the Brunhilde?"

Sokoto suddenly realized he overlooked a loose end. He quickly turned his head to Chifuyu, who was slightly less worn out than he was. The two locked eyeballs for more than ten seconds before he turned his attention back to the sunset, "Not the time..."

Meanwhile, the other pilots were just laying on the ground exhausted. Chifuyu sighed in disappointment. A small part was for being unable to get her revenge for Tabane, but the rest of it was for finding out that the renegade was not the crazy psycho killer everyone made him out to be. But at least she got what she needed. The headcam function worked wonders, as it was able to capture footage without fizzing out in the heat of combat. "Well, I got more than I needed to..." Then, she turned her attention to Tatenashi and picked her up by the neck, "I thought I told you to never cross my sight again."

"Heheh...couldn't resist..." Tatenashi whispered.

"Well, you should've," Chifuyu tossed her up and waited for her sword to strike her gut.

But Tatenashi's IS was still active, and it saved her from sudden death, at the cost of its last remaining energy. Tatenashi rolled on the concrete, with Daryl defending her from Chifuyu's rampage. When a bullet managed to blow past the katanas and strike her shoulder, Chifuyu was forced to withdraw.

Tatenashi laid still until Chifuyu was nowhere to be seen. Then, she rolled over and stoodd up, "Well, that worked out wonderfully..." she sarcastically joked before stretching her arms, "OH! Oh! Oh, my back...ohhhhhhhh, my back...ugh...I'm seriously considering breast reduction surgery..."

"The hell was all that for..." Forte limped towards Tatenashi, "We almost had him..."

"No, you didn't!" Tatenashi snapped, "You just shanked someone's neck! I told you to get on his good side!"

"Well...he ain't got a good side!"

"Then how'd you get him into an orgy?!"

"I don't know! Dumb...fucking..." Nope, it wasn't luck. He just had to be in a non-confrontational mood to even think about participating in that, "Oh..."

"Seriously?" Tatenashi sighed, "You need to know what you're doing when you're doing it..."

Suddenly, the surviving cops and pilots noticed the two and tried to alert their comrades.

"Yep, time to go," Tatenashi yanked Daryl and Forte into their car and drove off.

"Dammit..." Clarissa grunted as she tried to steady herself upright, "First, the renegade...then, Phantom Task...now, Sarashiki..."

"What are we supposed to do?" One of the elite pilots questioned, "We should've been able to take him down..."

"We can only assume that there was a massive outside interference," one of the Schwarzer Hase mused, "The renegade has made allies on the outside. We'll need to ask for outside help as well."

"Or you could back off and leave it to us," one of the police officers angrily confronted them.

"We did that in New York, and Illinois," Clarissa said, "You lost a city's worth of lives."

"What about that time with the volcano, then?! Where were you?!"

"We were locked away by their residents," Clarissa said, "forbidden from doing anything until after it was too late!"

"This is our turf! You ain't gonna muck it up with your foreignness and your rule of law!"

"Like you mucked up our chances of getting the renegade?"

"That was your doing and you know it!"

"Oh, really?" At which point Clarrisa showed footage around the country of the other members of Phantom Task causing a ruckus at every city they visit, and the women of law enforcement doing nothing, even going so far as to join them and cause even more problems for the men. While giving them special treatment. Clarissa put the fottage on full display for everyone to see, "Keep in mind! You told us not to interfere! And mind you, they were taken off the most wanted list! Would this be an accurate representation of our isolation from your activities?!"

No one said anything. Not even the officer who confronted them. She felt exposed. She did not want the secret getting out that there was an operation to set the political landscape ablaze, but with what she just saw, chances are someone already knew. She turned away, "You're all going on the wanted list..." To the surprise of the elite pilots, and to the satisfaction of the Schwarzer-wait, what?

"Oh?" Clarissa smirked.

"All of you are wanted for conspiring with the renegade!" the officer shouted.

"But, you saw us try to take him down!" Kristina tried to reason with her, "What evidence do you have to shove us along-"

"I'm only going to tell you once," the officer growled, "Since you attempted to assist us in the capture, I'll give you until midnight tonight to get out of the US. Otherwise, you are all under arrest!"

Suddenly, Chifuyu snuck up behind her, "Even me?"

The officer turned around and saw the Brunhilde. The most respected woman in the world. And yet she was the one who saw every bit of footage that Clarissa showed. So, she was forced to swallow her pride and send her personal hero down the toilet, "Even you." She walked away and gave the order for all suriving officers to retreat and call for paramedics.

"Well, damn," Chifuyu sighed, "Damn damn damn."

"What do we do now?" Karolina gathered her team.

"Definitely not leave the US, that's for sure," Chifuyu thought, "Thanks to the renegade and...her...our priorities have only slightly changed."

"Define sightly..." one of the Schwarzer Hase approaced her cautiously.

"Everyone in the woods," Chifuyu pointed to a section of the forest, "I found an abandoned hideout we can stow in for the night."

Stow was right. This hideout looked like it's been ransacked by the angriest psychopath in the world. Blood was freshly spattered over the wall, with that same message seen in the home that the renegade infiltrated,

"YOU WHO VIOLATE THE RIGHT TO LIFE, PHANTOM TASK CLAIMS YOURS."

"Well..." an SH member nervously joked, "At least he was civilized enough to leave a period..."

"Not helping, Mia..." Clarissa muttered.

"Yep, take a look at the world around you," Chifuyu narrated, "because this is the renegade's handiwork. Only the last time he did this he was trying to get women out of the rut, this time..." He pointed to a rotting body of a woman whose breasts were "forcefully amputated" without anesthesia, "it's the women who were on the chopping block."

"Ugh!" Karolina retched, "What did these poor women do to deserve this..."

"Was what I thought at first," Chifuyu put some papers on the only clean table in the hideout, "until I found these." Everyone gathered round to scan the papers, "I don't even know why they even keep documentation like this, unless they're planning to hire a feminist historian or something."

Their jaws dropped. Upon the few papers spread across the table, there was one particular document that caught their eye. A group of women managed to manipulate a group of powerful men to sneak an amendment into the Alaska treaty, literally right under the public eye, and it passed in secret: the Teary Red Eyes Provision. It basically enahnced the part about countries being required to share resources and results to the world, in that it gave participating countries the right to include pilots and IS personnel as shared resources. As a result, when the Alaska Treaty was ratified, the proposed provision was agreed upon right from the beginning. Not only should the tools and resources pertaining to the IS be shared, but the pilots and personnell "being tools themselves" should also be shared.

Resulting in the many prison camp horror stories that they keep hearing about. They turned out to be true.

"Who...did this..." Laurel forced the words out of their mouths.

"No idea," Chifuyu murmured, "but I have an inkling of who was involved." In her mind, this had something to do with Ichika being kidnapped all those years ago, and no it's come full circle with not-Ichika going back into the hellhole to disrupt their operations.

"But...why would the renegade...he's been..." Clarissa was at the end of her beliefs.

"Exactly," Chifuyu said, "That's why we're going to diverge from this spot."

"Meaning..." Kristina feared the worst.

"I'll go after the renegade," Chifuyu said, "My IS is outfitted with a destruction-proof headcam, so I'll be able to get up close and personal with his true activities and fighting style."

"But how?!" Clarissa stammered, "He has that demon sprite assissting him at all times! Not to mention he found out that were we hiding in that helicopter without her help!"

"Exactly, that's why I'm going at him alone. You will coordinate from the shadows with the rest of law enforcement. Keep Phantom Task away from him at all costs."

"Uh...how?"

"Surely, you can convince a few women to change their minds about your "wanted" status, right?" Chifuyu winked. Clarissa groaned. "Karolina, you and your team will go to Georgia. Back up the other pilots there should the renegade come within your sight."

"Understood," Karolina responded, "but may I ask why?"

"Because there's something very juicy hidden in the world," Chifuyu replied, "We're going to let the renegade find it for us so they'll break each other without us being broken first."

Upon hearing that, two SH members whispered to each other,

"You think the Brunhilde has some sort of ulterior motive?"

"I would advise you to never probe that suspcion, lest you be scarred for life..."


	4. Planting The Seeds

_Part 4: Planting the Seeds_

 **-NEAR CATOOSA WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA, CUMBERLAND COUNTY; 03:23, SIX DAYS TO ELECTION-**

Tatenashi was gritting her teeth. Her fan was dangling from the car's mirror with the kanji for "revelation" splattered all over its seams. She was not having a good day today. A few days ago, she gave the renegade's approximate locations to Daryl and Forte in hopes that they would woo him to bring them onto his team. They did the opposite, and she couldn't figure out why. All she could go back on was the dead body she pushed out of the car earlier today. And that made her want to slap herself for not explicitly ordering Forte to avoid all kills.

Thanks to that, she's had to steer the cops away from her all night until she found a hidden entrance to a cabin she prepared years ago. Thank heavens no one has found it yet. Once they were in the clear, Tatenashi grinded on Forte's grill again, "Forte, I told you to keep Daryl's emotions in check! Not only have you put her up on the chopping block, but you've chopped her up into itty-bitty pieces."

"He was trying to kill me..." Daryl kept muttering, "He was trying to kill me..."

"Ugh...feel like I'm babysitting Anne and Mary..."

"So, it's my fault that Daryl went ballistic?" Forte snapped.

"Pretty much," Tatenashi said, "The weapon that pierced that girl's neck? It melted."

"Uh..." Forte knew she made a near fatal mistake.

"You've always had that problem, lady," Tatenashi said, "You and Daryl. The only reason you were able to control yourselves in the Academy was because you had your woman crush already on your side keeping you under control. So, if anything, you killed the wrong person."

"I wanted to see him, but he didn't..." Daryl was still muttering nonsense, "I can't let him off again..."

"Oh, god..." Tatenashi smacked her head with the fan, "I know where this is gonna-Celsius, please calm her down!"

"Uh..." In all her time she's known Daryl, Forte has never had to calm her feelings down. This is a major first for her, yet it's something she has to swallow, as their supposed "plan" hinges on Daryl not losing her cool too soon, "Hey, girl...the sun's getting real low...time to come home..."

"I can't...not without him..."

"It's ok, you don't have to worry..."

"But you told me he would make me whole..."

"What?!" Forte jumped, "No, I didn't!"

"Yes you did..."

"I did no such thing!"

"Goddammit, Forte!" Tatenashi snapped, "What did you tell this woman?!"

"Nothing! I didn't say nothing!"

"I told you revenge will screw you over like a misused wet sock!"

"I told you, I didn't-" Forte inadvertently smacked Daryl into the window, bringing her back to her senses, "Yow! The heck happened?"

"Ugh...I think you happened..." Daryl muttered, "That some wicked drink you gave me...Why'd you tell me to go all aggressive?"

Forte winced and stared back at Tatenashi, then Daryl, then back and forth. Finally, she slumped over, "I tried seduction earlier, ok?! He dropped me like a cannonball in a pile of needles!"

"Well, that's because you tried to force him on you!" Daryl started an arguement.

"He can't be swayed! I tried to tell you!"

"OK, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Tatenashi slammed the brakes and swerved into a small parking space near a cabin, then stopped the car and shunted the other two into each other to silence them, "We're here."

"Ugh...where's here..." Forte clawed out from Daryl's nether regions.

"An old cabin I happened across on my way over here," Tatenashi parked deep within, "but we gotta hurry. Cops will be here in no time flat." Actually, Tatenashi parked under the cabin due to its elevated foundation, and the signal cloaking device she nabbed from Canada. None of the cops were able to track the car's movements beyond the border, nor were they able to find any electronic signal. They just drove straight past the cabin's entrance.

Inside the cabin, Daryl sat in front of a dusty fireplace, wondering what she said to make the renegade almost kill her. Forte was eyeing a taxidermy job done on a mink.

"Anyone want tea?" Tatenashi finished making ginseng tea for the three of them and set everything down on the floor beside Daryl.

"I don't drink tea," Daryl muttered.

"Well, then what do you drink?"

"Not tea," Daryl said, eyeballing an unopened case of RedBull.

"No," Tatenashi sternly locked Daryl down.

"Ok," Forte sat down beside her with a cup in hand, "What was so important that you needed us to ally with you?"

"Right to the chase...I like it," Tatenashi smiled and took a tablet out of the fireplace, "Lady and lady, this is why the renegade is so important." Upon initiating the 3D projection, numerous records materialized above them. Most prominent are the records showing the composition of the renegade's bloodstream, as well as the Silver Streamline's integral system specs.

"Holy..." Daryl recalled the encounter with the girl, "So, that pipsqueak with the shield...that's the IS itself?"

"The IS's consciousness and subconsiousness," Tatenashi said, "all bundle together in one huggable package."

"That still doesn't tell me why we have to leave him alone..." Forte griped.

"Well, if we can find it..." Tatenashi wafted over the holograms, switching from a bunch of papers, to just a couple of documents. One of which made Forte spit extremely hot tea on Daryl's head.

"OW! What the ffffffudge...shells..." Daryl saw what Forte saw. A burnt certificate of birth:

THIS TO CERTIFY THAT

(Skylar Alcott) WEIGHING (6) LBS (13) OZ WAS BORN ON THE (24th) DAY OF (December)

WAS BORN TO (Joseph Alcott) FATHER AND (Squall Meusel Alcott) MOTHER

"Uuuuuuuuuuu...so many questiooooooooooooons..." Forte drooled.

"Like, when did Auntie find the time to do the woohoo?!" Daryl rambled on, "And with that Alcott hag?! And who's Skylar-

"Well, the renegade has been in contact with Joseph the day he found the Streamline," Tatenashi pointed, "Now, right away, I can tell that this man Joseph, he absolutely revels in tomfoolery. He was a spoiled kid, so maybe that came into play. This little puppy...his dear old ancestor once fooled around with one-too-many women and unwittingly got the Alcott familiy out of the running for the crown of the Kingdom."

"Ok...so what's these things got to do with the larger picture?" Forte asked.

"That's where the second document comes in," Tatenashi explained, "A long time ago, I was tasked with the takedown of Phantom Task. I was told that it was a terrorist group, and given your activity in the past few years..."

Daryl and Forte looked away.

"...turns out you two have strayed from your original purpose," Tatenashi zooned in on the document, "According to the original charter, which my backlines have been able to reconstruct with excruciating back and finger pains-"

 **-LEGENDS GYM HEALTH CLUB, BOWIE COUNTY; 03:55-**

"Ouch!" Kanzashi winced when she tried to squeeze a foam ball.

"What did you do to yourself?" Tina asked.

Kanzashi just whimpered.

 **-CABIN INSIDE CATOOSA WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA, CUMBERLAND COUNTY; 03:56-**

"Phantom Task was originally planned to be a secretive police organization," Tatenashi explained, "but thanks to the removal of the Alcott family from the succession line, their purpose has changed. You see, it was formed after WWII to prevent the world from shitting itself into oblivion. But they knew it needed a leader. Someone who understands the human heart at the core of all humanity, pardon my jargon. The person who isn't afraid to look injustice in the eye and stick their middle finder in the belly button. That's why they've been going around and causing all these chaotic occurrences throughout history, because they knew at some point, the world would become numb to the messages of peace that keep floating around."

"Numb?" Forte said, "Yeah, we have been skipping over the cheesiness of those peace talks lately."

"Uh-huh, it's already happening," Tatenashi continued, "That's what's on this charter. To guide the world until it can be guided no more, then punish the world for its misdeeds. AKA, this." Tatenashi wafted over the tablet until she found the news articles of the prison camp busts. "I believe that this was one of those examples."

"So, what does that have to do with us?" Daryl asked, "As far as I'm concerned, Phantom Task ain't no more than a relic of the past trying to wipe the grime off."

"Yes, and no. See, they knew that they would get old, but everything goes in a cycle. That's where they have a distinct advantage. They can keep adjusting to the new world conditions, yet the cycle remains the same always."

"So, where does the renegade fit into all this?" Daryl asked.

"Well, there was a saying that kept popping up," Tatenashi wafted back to the charter, "When the four seasons converge over the sunrise, there shall arise a flame of judgement. That philosophy came from the convergence, which I do not want to probe. But take a listen to Squall's final words."

Tatenashi played an audio file which she managed to snag from the Silver Streamline when the renegade was piss-conked out at the end of the marathon. She only played the last bit,

"Thank you, Soki...Goodbye...my darling summer sky..."

Daryl and Forte were completely stunned. The most recent raid, the odd connection she sensed he had with Squall, his purpose and vigor...everything started to fall into place. An uneasy silence mulled over the cabin for a full minute.

Before Tatenashi broke the silence, "Daryl...I have reason to believe that Sokoto may not only be your cousin...he may not only be the flame of judgement...he might...

"So, then..." Daryl muttered, and for some reason became flustered, "I was going after my cousin...Why am I even more excited now?"

"I don't know, and I probably don't want to know..." Tatenashi said, "But this guy is the key to some big purpose, and he's already committed himself to being rooted deep within every moment. If you pull him out now, let's just say it will not end well for either of you."

"Sorry," Daryl said to Forte, "but there's no way we can make him a slave."

"Dammit!" Forte slammed her fist, "My revenge scheme shot down in an instant..."

"Yeah...the best we can do is follow along on this insane journey," Tatenashi said.

"We can't join him, can we?" Daryl asked, "I mean, something happened when that Alcott guy screwed everything up, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Tatenashi wafted over the tablet until she came across a memo, "This was from the second leader of Phantom Task. It reads: one of our agents has fallen victim to a seduction technique from our enemy. This has caused the Alcott family to be disgraced and cast aside, and our agent wrongfully accused of adultery and sexual harassment. Our mission now will be to restore the Alcott family and bring to justice the one who would rob our agent of its rightful place."

"So," Forte surmised, "Phantom Task is just one big babysitting service, huh?"

"Not necessarily," Tatenashi said, "Just lost its way. It used to be a way to make the world see what's wrong with it. Now, it's become terror for terror. Fueling the world with chaos."

"And now," Daryl said, "It's going to use that chaos to find the next heir..."

"Speaking of," Forte interrupted, "Where IS Phantom Task now?"

Fooling around, making an absolute ass of the susceptible. While the renegade was off doing his handiwork, the rest of Phantom Task were swept under the radar, free to cause as much havoc as they pleased. This usually happened in cities that were vying for votes, or clashing protests were brawling.

Phantom Task would split up into teams of two. Autumn and Madoka would try to rally support for men-centric ideals. Autumn would interrupt any conversation with her gibberish, and the men would teach her a lesson in respect. A lesson she fell asleep though every time it was taught. Madoka found pleasure in using her petite figure to her advantage. She cut her hair and dressed up in heavy clothes to make herself look like a lost boy, running around town and warning everyone of the dangers of the female mind and what the Democratic candidate would do to men would she be elected. Meanwhile, Chelsea and Cecilia took a more colonial approach. Since Chelsea was more reserved than her more bombastic counterpart, she played the role of the victim who survive the horrors of MAN, while Cecilia acted as the messenger spreading the stories about the perceived flaws of MAN.

Once both sides were completely riled up, they led them to the nearest intersection to do battle with each other. They always ended in complete non-violent chaos, with both side to drowned in their own conflict to notice the people who started it sneak out out the fray, into the secret hideouts, and run off with whatever dark secrets they find.

And it was a glorious raid indeed. From secret crushes, wild fantasies, to cheating on their spouses and betraying their political ideals, and even secret plans to hijack the election, Phantom Task Spread it all. Even more damaging were the random acts of abuse and harassment that were forcibly stopped once the protests got underway, for fear of being discovered. They all got a kick out of seeing the despair on the people's faces when they were forced to choose between staying true to themselves or surrendering to the collective belief.

As exhilarating as it was cathartic for them, because there were a few moments where they were able to take time to reflect on the past experience.

 **-MJ'S FRONT PORCH, DAVIDSON COUNTY; 18:14-**

"Guys," Cecilia pointed to her cellphone, "this just in!" It showed several pictures of the renegade fighting a bunch of pilots, and pointing a giant pointy thingy right at Daryl's forehead. She

"No!" Autumn shouted, "No he did not!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did," Madoka muffled through her burger, "He has been feeling off since Akari got the axe."

"She got killed?!" Chelsea was surprised.

"Unfortunately. Iced through the neck."

"Is that so?" Autumn said on the outside, but on the inside she was sighing a relieved sigh. That meant with her gone, she could tell them the story without having to run the risk of permanent separation from the group.

"You ok?" Cecilia said, "You seem awfuly relieved."

"Was it that apparent?" Autumn was quick to note.

"Yeah, it was like Anna's flustering flatulence fluttered in the free falls," Madoka wagged her arms and drooped her head on the table for all to chuckle at.

"Can it with the real name thing?" Autumn muttered.

"Come on, lighten up!" Cecilia said, "Not like anthing can surprise us now."

"Even the fact that I got Akari into the shit the Sokoto got her out of?"

"!!" Everyone was surprised.

"Well..." Autumn gulped down her mashed potatoes and a can of soda, "UGH...surpriiiiiiiiise..."

"You got her in...how?" Chelsea was curious.

"Ugh, I knew this would happen..."

"Wait, why are you surprised, M?" Cecilia interrupted.

"Because I'm a killer, not a torturer," Madoka said.

"That didn't make any sense, but-"

"Ok, story time!" Autumn clapped her hands to keep the conversation from veering off-track, " So! This happened long before I had even heard of Phantom Task. I happened to travel to Japan to see the coming of the IS. These two men in a black blazer and a leather jacket approached me and asked if I wanted to earn some extra money. I said what for, and they just said I could work with them. They gave me a day to think about it. Hell, they even walked with me to try and goad me around because I was all alone. But then I saw and pointed to a woman who was flirting with a yakuza, and immediately he recognized her as the daughter of a family who was in debt. They gave me their card and told me to keep in touch if at any time there's a job for me. And then they just left me in the open. That's when Squall found me."

"So, this girl you found," Chelsea asked, "Is she in any way related to Akari?"

"Sister-in-law."

"!!" Cecilia and Chelsea gasped.

"So, lemme guess," Madoka deduced, "The guy is actually a yakuza member. He found out you were in league with Sokoto and called you to bring us to wherever his hideout is."

"!!" Cecilia and Chelsea gasped again.

"Yep," Autumn slumped, "It's in California."

"~~~~" Cecilia and Chelsea choked on their steak.

"Uh..." Madoka cringed.

"Oh, come on," Autumn said, "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?! NOT THAT BAD?!" Cecilia shouted after gulping down some water, "I just spend the worst day of my life under the heels of their cameltoes!"

"Calm down..."

"And now you want us to go back in there to face the wrath of the brainwashing demon children?!"

"No way, I can't go back there!" Chelsea shivered, "Not after how shamefully they've treated me!"

"CLAM YOUR TITS, DRILL WOMAN! AND PUT A MUZZLE ON YOU!" Madoka slammed her tray on the table, causing everyone to look at her stunned. Madoka crossed her arms once she's sure they would be silent, "Look. She didn't come to the wrong people, the wrong people came to her. The only reason Autumn's telling us this is so that we can help her find a way out. Problem is, the only way out, is in."

"What do you mean?" Chelsea whimpered.

"It means, we'll have to disrupt their operations from within," Autumn explained, "Me and Madoka have received mass training for this kind of situation. And you two have been exposed to this type of cruelty. I think it's only natural we build on our experiences and create an immune system for this."

"In other words, we sell our bodies for two dollars apiece," Cecilia grunted.

"And how long before we succumb to the thrall of...MAN." Chelsea tried to deepen her voice for any comedic relief.

"Not working."

"I know."

"Uh...Chel..."

"What? Oh dear god..."

Chelsea and Cecilia saw the wicked smiles on Madoka and Autumn's faces when they chuckled at each other. And thanks to the random string of events that they've been able to piece together, they knew what this meant as well.

"They're going to train us," Cecilia took that pretty calmly. While Chelsea fainted.

And that was the standard. When they were not going about their usual antics, they were planning...and executing...their endurance regime. Autumn and Madoka had to endure it for their initiation, so did Chelsea and Cecilia. Part of the training had to do with the psychology of being a slave and finding its loopholes to break out of that hold. Not just leave it behind in their subconscious and wait for it to creep back into their minds. No, they had to dive deep into the nether regions of their hearts, minds, and genitals, find out what's keeping them from reaching their full potential, and forcefully expelled them from their everything.

On top of causing political chaos in the streets. It was an outright miracle they all successfully endure the training in such a short amount of time. But there was more to come.

 **-SUPER 8, FREMONT COUNTY; 20:45, FIVE DAYS TO ELECTION-**

"Oh my god..." For the first time in a long time, Madoka was completely exhausted, "I didn't think there was another angle to torture..."

"Please..." Chelsea was completely fatigued, "I thought...cucumbers were...child's play...omigodihursutak..."

Cecilia was...unconscious.

"What? Done already?" Autumn was unfazed, "And I was just getting out the goodies."

All three suddenly gained full control of their bodies, "NOOOOOOOO!"

"What? I was joking!" Autumn laughed, "You all did good!" She threw everything in the drawer, "I say we treat ourselves to a drink. Are you in?"

"UUUUUUUUUUUGH..." that was a sign to stay in.

 **-20:55-**

"Just so we're clear, just like the swamp that has infested Washington DC, I don't think that feminism is inherently bad. I think it's the few bad apples that have radicalized the ideal altogether, and in turn transformed what was supposed to be a noble cause into an unstable, and admittedly unsightly, raucous merriment of nonsense. That's the reality of the~"

"Oh, go suck a goat, ya flea-ridden, pompous, leaking bagpipe!" Madoka threw a beer can at the TV.

"Take it easy!" Cecilia said, "We break it, we buy it!"

"I don't care!" Madoka struggled to get out of Cecilia's restraining, "My fist will ram him to the very Kingdom Come he so very much fantasizes over!"

"Aren't you going down the very route everyone says is bad?!"

"Yeah, I know! Just live a little!"

"Wait!" Cecilia let go, "You're aware of this?!"

"Yeah! Tomorrow, we're gonna go hiking! I wanna get all of my boredom out of my system tonight!"

"Can you do that without taking the TV down?!" Cecilia looked around the room. Massive air quotes there, because it was wrecked by drunk M!

"Mmmmmm..." Madoka racked her brain for an idea, when, "Why don't we share each other's deepest darkest secrets?"

"The hell?!"

"It'll be fun!"

"No it won't!"

"Please pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-"

"ALRIGHT! Alright! Alright...you go first."

"Hah! Ok, thinking...thinking...I killed my father and mother."

"Wait, huh?" Cecilia said.

"I've caused my father's death..." Madoka muttered, "I've got Ichika's face and Chifuyu's hair. They couldn't get over the fact that I look like someone else, so mom and dad took their time to make me act and look like them. I dunno what was in their minds, but I...didn't take that too well. So one day, while I and C stayed home and my parents took me...somewhere, I made them run into traffic. I made it look like I died."

"Wow...that's something..."

"You're not freaked out?"

"Actually, I can somewhat relate...my father...He wasn't around that often, and I slowly started to resent him. And yet, I've held out hope that he would come take me to the park or spend at least a birthday with me. Then, one day he promised to take me to a New Year's, and he ended up skipping out. My mom had me study instead. I couldn't believe that-"

"Your father would neglect you?"

"Something like that," Cecilia winked.

"Well, if we're talking deep dark secrets..." All of a sudden, Madoka planted herself on Cecilia's lap.

"Hello?" Cecilia said uneasy, "O...k...what's all the hubbub?"

"I wanna die."

"...HUH?"

"But not like in a self-inflicted bloody deranged way. Just, like in a blaze of glory, like I go down in battle like-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Where is this coming from?!"

"From here," Madoka dragged her hand to her left breast, "Feel..."

Cecilia took a few seconds to fondle before she felt something terribly wrong. She ran her fingers across a small lump, "Oh my god..."

"Yep."

"Was anything done?!"

"You make it sound like the worst thing in the world."

"Isn't it?!"

"Sort of...but there's something else on my mind, though..."

Cecilia thought the same thing. In the back of her mind, she was thinking about the renegade and how he kept up communication despite being miles away. He tried to keep things open between everyone in the team. And here they were sharing secrets that would potentially haunt the renegade to no end.

"Are you going to do anything about it?" Cecilia asked.

"Still debating..." was all Madoka said, "I know he's trying to redeem us, but...is that even possible?"

"He redeemed Squall, didn't he?" Cecilia went to a random conversation she had while Autumn was training her.

"Huh...didn't realize that..."

And while Madoka and Cecilia were having a heart-to-heart, Autumn was busy washing down Chelsea.

"Sorry about the mess," Autumn said while scrubbing Chelsea's back, "Just didn't want you to fall victim to their terrible methods."

"I've grown numb to it at this point," Chelsea responded, "There's always a method to the madness, but no one ever explains the reason..."

"Well, I've dabbled into their little underworld quite a bit," Autumn began rinsing, "I've seen what they do to everyone, though it's mostly women that get the sharp end of the stick."

"Why is that?"

Autumn chuckled, "Heheh...something to do with-" deep faux mock voice "-TESTOSTERONE FILLED MAN PENIS RULE OVER ALL LIFE BEING FORMS-" NORMAL VOICE "-or some bullshit like that."

"They make the world seem so black and white, when clearly there are more colors than there are people in the world. How does one navigate such treacherous waters?"

"Only one way," Autumn finished rinsing and started to dry Chelsea off, "Though blind as a bat, with acute hearing to boot, you can find your way through anthing."

"So, just dive right in, huh?"

"Pretty much."

"You think everyone has days where they tread too far?"

"Don't sweat it. We all do."

"Ok..." Chelsea stood up and grabbed the squeegee to start washing Autumn.

"Uh..." Autumn just sat there stunned, "You did something bad, too?"

"No," Chelsea said, "I have sworn loyalty to the Alcott family since my grandfather gave his oath to protect them. But with everything I've had to put up with...is it even worth going along with Cecilia anymore?"

"Well, I'd say it's worth it."

"Why?"

"For the obvious reason: the world adventure. You went to Canada, the US...with any luck, we might be forced to go to Mexico or South America!"

"Why, to get high?"

"Maybe..." At which point, Autumn was splashed with water, "Hey! The hell was that for?!"

"You're high right now!" Chelsea kept splashing.

Until Autumn grabbed the hose and turned on the water, "I'll get you high right now!" And the two got lost in their mother-daughter moment while Madoka and Cecilia spent their night bonding over the darkest of dark.


	5. What's an Off Switch?

_Part 5: What's An Off Switch?_

Sokoto and Silvia were also busy leaving a mark on the community. Tennessee has finally pulled the sentence down on the renegade's capture, with many of the population actually helping him avoid capture. The police had a hard time getting him away from the public, thanks to Clarissa's handiwork and Chifuyu's constant pressure. People have been asked to turn the renegade (or themselves) in, and they've outright refused. If it was a woman defending him, then it was a war of words and threats. That was it, just words and threats. And when that didn't go as planned, the police would take the women to brutality for "betraying their gender," which caused distrust in the authorities to be impartial and fair to drop even more. At the end of yesterday, the police issued a statement placing the state under watch until the morning after the election. It was the only thing they could do after the renegade crossed the borders into Alabama, another state that has declared their support for the Republican Candidate.

But Alabama has its own issues, too. Not the police kind, the under-the-radar kind.

Just to give you a glimpse of what happened, here was a scenario where Sokoto and Silvia were just walking alongside a school building.

 **-HUNTSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, MADISON COUNTY; 14:33, FIVE DAYS TO ELECTION-**

"Seriously, onii-chan," Silvia said while walking alongside Sokoto, "If you really wanna get your message across, you have got to give people at least three chances."

"That's gonna be hard," Sokoto said, "Most of these perps are repeat offenders. How do I know that they're not gonna do it again after I leave?"

"First of all, everyone saw that warning message you left. Once, that second one, no one will ever see."

"Or, will they?" Sokoto sneered and pointed his little finger at her ribbon, knowing that he planted the seed before the encounter with Chifuyu. (Even though he had to ask, "Sil? What did I write the first time?")

And yet, Silvia never picked up on that, "Uh, no. Second, don't you think that death is like, an escape?"

"Huh..." Sokoto never thought of that, "Is it really?"

Silvia grabbed his shoulders and projected Death from her gaze, "Oh, onii-chan... I have so much to teach you..."

"Uh, is it too late to drop that cla-UGH..." Sokoto suddenly got hit with a nasty aural sense.

"Oh, man..." Silvia set him down and patted his head, "Where do you feel it from?"

"Ngh...over...there?" Sokoto pointed.

To a locker room.

"Oh..." Silvia muttered. On the rare occasion she found herself bored, Silvia would share random stories across the internet with Sokoto. High school hazing happened to be those stories. Either for initiation or for the other thing. This was the other thing.

"Goddamn me..." Sokoto grunted and led the duo onward.

Inside the locker room, a group of female volleyball players were spanking a pair of naked younger teammates, who were not pleased to be videotaped or toyed with.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" The captain yelled, "You don't belong here!"

"You think Joshua fell in love with you?!" A senior member said, "He only likes your body! Admit it!"

"Confess your sins, and you will be pardoned," the whip kept coming down on them.

Just over the next door, Sokoto and Silvia were spying on the session.

"THIS is what's giving me the hives?!" Sokoto could not believe that something so petty was causing so much pain.

"Hey, hormones are the bane of all human beings!" Silvia snapped.

"Ok...so what now?" Sokoto asked.

"Get their attention," Silvia walked out. Sokoto followed suit. They walked in when Sokoto dropped a barbell.

"What the-" the captain was caught off guard. The rest of team surrounded the two victims.

Silvia took the wings onto herself and floated. Sokoto took the armor and limbs, "BACK AWAY! FROM THE MISSESES!"

"No! The renegade, here?!" The teammates administering the punishment were frozen. They looked back at the two women who were waiting to escape from their grasp.

"Don't worry," Silvia told them, "We'll get you two out of here."

"Wait," The Captain had the bright idea to try and reason with him, "We can talk about this whole-" she was interrupted by the renegade charging his gauntlets.

"Give me the two weeping beauties first! Then, we'll talk!" He commanded, "And lose the whip, too! You're giving off the wannabe a not dominatrix vibes!"

The team was forced to relent. The two victims rushed over to the renegade's side.

"Oh my god...thank you so much..." they kept saying.

"Yeah, sure, now get outta here," Sokoto pushes them away.

"And let them spill the beans?!" A senior yelled, "Hell, no!" And ran after them without seeing a metal fist knock her down.

"DON'T NOBODY MOVE!" Sokoto screamed, "We talk now!" And everyone stayed put.

"He's right," Silvia just realized, "We can't have you two tarnish the team's reputation.

"Oh my god!" The teammates freaked out a bit, knowing that they would have to pay for the victims' silence.

"Uh..." the captain said, "What are you gonna do to us..."

"Yeah, what are we gonna do to them?" Silvia asked.

"Huh," Sokoto never got this far. Usually this would be the time to splash some blood, but (1) they're in America where the legal age of adulthood is older than Japan's, and (2) hazing of this type is clearly not worth the one shot. So he turned to Silvia, "I don't know...what do you think?"

 **-14:55-**

 _(Hey, yeah! I wanna shoop, baby._

 _Shoop. Shoop-be-doop~~~)_

Originally, Silvia had in mind to not let them go until they endure the same torture they inflicted on those two girls. And yet somehow, one of the confessions got lost in translation... and the rest of the "punishment" turned into something that could get them all expelled.

Well, ruining their lives for ruining one life is an alternative. Maybe...

"Where is this even going..." And Silvia was the one with the whip, "Ok...next!"

It was the Captain's turn to get spanked, though it became pretty clear that she wanted this to happen to her, "Ok... I spread rumors that caused that nerdy girl to to almost commit suicide...what's going to happen to me..."

"Good lord, you're so simple-minded," Silvia sighed as she let the whip loose. The Captain "screamed" and twitched uncontrollably. "Oh my god! Ugh, time out!" Silvia got something in her eye, "I got splashed! I don't think it's pee! Ugh! How are you doing, onii-chan?"

"How am I doing?!" Sokoto had his hands full, "Why don't you quy trenching their thirst-" yanky yanky "-AND THEM AXE ME HOW I'M DOING?!"

"Oh..." Silvia finished her punishment before dragging Sokoto out of his, "Ok, horn dog. Time to go."

"Ohhhhh...thank god we got them all drunk..." Sokoto limped his way out.

"You drank more than all of them combined!" Silvia said.

"So, How are we getting out of here?!" Sokoto said before sensing two authoritative auras, "Sil, wigs on!" He pulled down his hair and put on his wig while Silvia changed her appearance. Then, they ran out to bring the two auras into the room, "Coach! Coach!"

"Do we know you?"

"We have a situation! The girls are going crazy!"

"What are you talking abooooOOOOOH MY GOD!"

Needless to say, the day ended with more than just a mass expulsion.

 **-LES BONS TEMPS LOUISIANA KITCHEN, CHEROKEE COUNTY; 18:33-**

"I can't believe we hacked into 15 schools and twenty houses," Sokoto groaned, "At least nobody got the axe..."

"I can't believe how insane these people were," Silvia groaned, while chugging juice from a stolen cellphone, "Is there anyone that doesn't lose their minds when we show up?"

"Dude, we caused the biggest bursts in the world bubble. I don't think sanity's a major issue right now."

"Well, don't take your hands off the handle just yet," Silvia finished draining recharge power, "After that little nugget..." she pointed to the TV, which showed a peculiar newscast.

"After this video surfaced, I suspect, Fox News has not yet confirmed...I suspect that there is a long running conspiracy that's rooted deep in the middle class, and even sleeping into the lower class. It's a classic case of law enforcement officials doing whatever they want. We're playing the video right now, you should be able to see it on your screen. Now, this is just one example of a justice system gone haywire, local politicians are using gender tactics and politicizing the manhunt. Notice how the police have issued statements condemning the people their supposed to protect for even considering that the renegade has somewhat of a conscience. But look here. They're actually goading Madoka Orimura and Anna Koehler, two very prominent Phantom Task members thought to be in prison, into making trouble for the men! And the evidence of prison camps in Japan and Lac Mastissinni? Hogwash to them. You cannot get any more corrupt than this~"

"Oooohohohohohoooo!" Sokoto cheered, "It worked!"

"What worked?" Silvia was confused.

"This whole time, I've been trying to get the limelight off of them so that they have time to bond with each other! I didn't think it would work so well, though."

"So, that's why we've been invading other people's privacy?"

"In large, yes," Sokoto pulled up the text history, "and, LOOKADAT!" The text history showed a massive exchange and evolution of their personalities. Autumn went from,

-Just worried about dual M's.

to

-Dancing in the liquor! They are, not me. I don't swing that way.

Madoka never responded at first, but her most recent message was,

-Finally got the Brits in the antics! Be seeing you!

Chelsea and Cecilia's most recent message was,

-I had no idea how much fun this was! It feels so good to let go!

-ISs can text? Boo! I want a heart to heart convo!

And what messages from Sokoto?

-At least let them sleep a little.

-I miss the good old hangouts.

-She did what?! No! Nonononono, stop her!

Among others.

"Whoa..." Silvia was taken aback by the amount of growth the team showed in such a short amount of time, "You know, you're gonna put all absentee fathers to shame you're that good."

"Come on," Sokoto banged his head down, "I'm gonna feel old with that..."

"Oh, you're the renegade?" Someone snuck up behind him.

"OMIGOD-uhhhhh..."

"It's ok! We're not gonna do anything," the patron assured, "So, that's your little group, huh?"

"Yeah," Sokoto said, "Feels more like a family..."

"Really, now?" The patron leaned in close, "So, how come you guys are apart?"

"Why'd you wanna know?" Silvia interrupted.

"None of your business, you bimbo," the patron barked.

"Hey, yeah! Why do you wanna know?" Sokoto turned around and backed up, taking his fighting stance while Silvia grabbed a nearby bottle.

"Sir," the restaurant owner said to the patron, "the little lady asked you a question. Care to provide an answer?"

The patron stared them all down. He found himself outnumbered and was forced to withdraw. "No." He kicked a couple chairs over and slammed the door shut.

"Holy crap, that was bonkers," Sokoto muttered.

"Ah, think nothing of it," the owner said, "It's always been like that."

"Well, at least we gotta give you some time for that trouble," Silvia said.

"Nah, I don't need it. You two saved my wife from a life of slavery. You done more than enough."

"Geezus...just how many people did we affect?" Sokoto sighed.

"A lot, I imagine," Silvia said, "Some of those people have extended families."

"So then, what's the business of trying to cover it up?" Sokoto wondered.

"It's all to make themselves look good," the owner said, "I see it all the time on the news. People saying that it was some female special forces when the UN said it was another group. I stopped watching when they tried to justify giving men a taste of their own medicine."

"Where has this gone?" Silvia said, "Like, really, what are we doing? Can we fix something so far gone?"

"Well, that's what we came here to do, ain't it?" Sokoto grabbed a shot of Coke Sprite Mountain Dew Canada Dry and soy sauce.

"Depends on where you're headed next," the owner said.

"We're going to Florida," Silvia answered.

"WHAT?!" The owner yelled.

"ECGHGH!" Sokoto recoiled, "UGH...what what?..."

"Oh, Florida's a madhouse," the owner said, "That place is hyper-Democratic now that you have shown them up. They are not like the Japanese, let's just say that."

"Like, how?" Sokoto was curious, "Military response? Hypersensitivity?"

"Both on both. They don't want anything to do with you. I'm betting it's because they're hiding something."

"Weeeeelp!" Sokoto rubbed his hands, "Even more reason to bust the coffin open!"

"Wait, huh?"

"See, we're on three missions at once," Sokoto leaned on the table, "a rescue mission, a recon mission, and search and destroy mission. We have to rescue a pilot, who we know is being kept in the No Name Key."

Silvia tried to correct him, "We don't know that-"

"Aaatatattatattata..." Sokoto silences her, she pouted, "We have to uncover what that other provision to the Alaska treaty really is. And, we have to shit on whatever shenanigans made this country into the gender insanity that it is today."

"All in two days?" Silvia asked.

"Well, they don't make us freeze Hell for free..."

"That makes no sense."

"Point is! I've already committed too much into this quest to back out now. I gotta be somewhere too, but I'll be damned if I have to leave some forgotten people behind. So, if there's a day where I must go to the place I am called to, LOOOOOONG be that day."

"You're not gonna turn away, are you?" The owner reaffirmed.

"Nope."

"Yeah, thought as much," the owner gave him a card, "I fired a lazy bum last week. Snatched his pay card. It's got more than $2,000 in here. I think you can make the most of it."

"You sure about this?" Sokoto stared at the card, "I mean, that's literally your money-"

"Now, now," Silvia swiped the card right from under their noses, "We must not take this gentleman's charity for granted. I sure he will be ever so grateful for setting the people here on the right path." And left.

"Uhhhhhh..." Sokoto could not believe that Silvia would splurge all that money.

"She won't spend all that at once, will she?" The owner asked.

"I'll make sure she doesn't," Sokoto chased after her. He found her outside and ran, "Hey! Sil! Hey! You're not gonna splurge all that, are you?!"

"Nope. Just transferring to another card," Silvia said while firing off a laser to incinerate the card, "That thing has a tracking chip. Can't let anyone find us that easily."

"Tracking...are you saying that the owner was pegged to do someone's dirty work?"

"Whether or not he did it of his own volition, we'll never know."

"Yeah, but...haaaahhhhhh..."

"You can't get hung up on every single thing that happens in front of us. Otherwise, you're never going to get anywhere close to your goal."

"That hurts...badly."

"It's life," Silvia sighed as she walked ahead of him to look for a path forward.

Sokoto stopped to ponder the potential fate of him and the owner. He immediately assumed the worst, turned back, crossed his heart, and whispered, "Your sacrifice shall not be in vain..." He ran after Silvia, "Hey, wait up!"

Some time passed through the random conversation and occasional social justice correction, and the occasional joke before they saw signs of a metropolitan residence area. Sokoto's aura sense used to be haywire due to a high crime rate, but the suburbs were a bit more reformed. Not that many people needed correction, and thank heavens they were far more forgiving of the renegade than anyone else.

 **-MILLENNIUM GATE MUSEUM, FULTON COUNTY; 20:13-**

When they got to the big city of Atlanta, they felt right at home. For some odd reason, a college student recognized, and high-fived, Sokoto!

"Hey, 'sup, man!"

"Wha-" fist bump "-uh..."

"Welcome to Atlanta, onii-chan!" Silvia twirled around and raised her arms, "where love springs whatever your lifestyle!"

"That's...a giant...gate..."

"Have you been here before?"

As evidenced by a security guard, "Hey! Sokoto, right?"

"Betty!" Sokoto greeter her, "It's been a long time!"

"You two know each other?" Silvia asked.

"Yeah, he saved me from a bunch of people trying to mug me," Betty said, "and I hear you're the person who's trying to keep him outta trouble."

"Failing miserably," Silvia joked and shook her hand, "as the news must've told you."

"Yeah-hah, trouble follows him all day! Hahahaha!"

"Did they make that arch bigger?!" Sokoto asked.

"Yeah, big city makeover since you left," Betty explained, "I'd give you a tour, but the police ain't too friendly since the bloodstream reveal."

"Oh, I think we're accustomed to the challenge," Silvia leaned on her gawking pilot partner, "We're pumped that we got to practice parkour."

"Alright," Betty got her walkie-talkie, "You go that way, I'll tell 'em you went the other way."

"Thanks, we owe you!" Silvia waved, "Come on, Sky. We got a tour to start!"

"Those lights weren't there before!" Sokoto was just speechless about how much bigger everything was since his last world trip.

Everything was different for him. While avoiding the cops and neighborhood watchers, Sokoto would spent the night inspecting every block he ran through to see what all had changed. It was quite eye opening for him. Not only did the buildings get bigger and grander, but so did people's attitudes. Last time, there was a stench of racism and prejudice, but something must've happened since three years ago. Maybe the fact that he led the cops in the biggest drug deal bust in the city's history by confusing meth for sugar had something to do with it. But he seemed to have a positive impact, which has obviously earned animosity from the rest of the state. Despite the fact that Georgia was still a battleground state, some of the counties helped pitch in a little effort to get Atlanta out of the dangerous city list. And it worked. Some of the parks have expanded, and have monthly beautifications, tourism took an increase, and the city's leaders started to take a hint from him. Now, the atmosphere felt different. The landmarks felt more welcoming. The theaters were more vibrant. Even the roads and trains got a nice touch up.

 **-PIEDMONT PARK, FULTON COUNTY; 20:53-**

When they found a moment to take it easy, Sokoto spread himself all over the grass, while Silvia sat on a tree's branch.

"Man, oh man..." he panted, "So much has changed..."

"Yeah, it is pretty breathtaking how kind these people are..." Silvia said.

"You don't think they know what's in my body, do you?"

"Probably, but I don't think it's a big deal. This city made America's first biological IS, after all."

"Huh...how'd I miss that..."

"Not sure...I'd say someone on the outside is blocking communications, but that's easy too easy a guess."

"Come on, Sil...when are you gonna relax a little? We can still make it to Florida in record time!"

"Yeah, but..."

"Hey," Sokoto reassured her, "If anything's wrong, we'd be able to sense it. We'll know from a mile away. We've been through this sort of thing a dozen times. This is just another one. No big."

"*SIGH*..." Silvia smiled, "What were you doing before I came into being..."

"Living life...as everyone should..."

"Despite a massive protest happening just yesterday?"

"Despite that, yup. Every moment is its own, you know?"

"Then, I gotta ask...would you give a moment to someone who screwed up badly?"

That got Sokoto thinking. In all the times he's acted, it was on impulse. He's had to think about it all now that there's nothing for him to let loose on, "Huh...I guess it wouldn't-"

"That's bad news for the Democrats, I gotta say!" Suddenly, a commanding voice interrupted their brief siesta, "And if they want to win in this upcoming election, well, I don't see how!"

"The heck is that?" Silvia said before connecting to the city-wide WIFI, "I feel like I've heard that before..."

"There's no doubt that the media's going to ignore the massive protest that happened before I got here-" the voice sounded again, which gave Sokoto a better lock on the aura that the voice is coming from.

"Huh," Sokoto sat up and held his arm out, "Got him." He led them close to the source of the aura. Once they're able to see up close, they ducked behind some bushes to avoid being seen. They were able to make out a camera crew filming someone in the parking lot with some background lights, and a van parked by the entrance.

"Dude! Is that?!" Silvia whispered.

"Is who?" Sokoto was only paying attention to the two lights illuminating the set.

"That's Sean Patrick Hannity!" Silvia said, "conservative juggernaut and media truther!"

"Media...huh?"

"He gives off the impression of a Knight of Truth and Justice, but you should've seen his segment on when he got onto a president for ordering a Cajun dish! Really did a good job there..."

"Come on, you can't expect him to be all bad..." Sokoto said, until, "Although..."

"Wait..." Silvia just now remembered something, "I saw you put something on that table back in-"

"Come on," Sokoto stepped out of their hiding place and approached the crew!

"Hey! Where're you going?!" Silvia tiptoed behind him.

"I'm gonna make a deal," Sokoto said as he readied his shield bracelet.

While the crew were wrapping up:

"Just so we're clear, just like the politics in Washington DC that has been sullied by the swamp and the deep state, I don't think that feminism is inherently bad. I think it's the few bad apples that have radicalized the ideal altogether, and in turn transformed what was supposed to be a noble cause into an unstable, and admittedly unsightly, raucous merriment of nonsense. That's the reality of the election cycle here, and we've seen this before. All we have to do is keep our heads, tell the abusively biased media to start doing its job and tell the truth, and keep on exposing it of all its lies and all its deception. And eventually, we'll be able to steer this ship on the right course. It's happened before. We've been able to right this ship before, so I don't see why this should be any different. I'd go on, but unfortunately, that's all the time we have. We're off for weekend, but let not your heart be troubled. We'll will be back on Monday back in the studio to continue the fight against fake news. We'll always be fair and balanced. I'm Sean Hannity, and for all of us at Fox News, have a great weekend."

"Ok, and done!" The cameraman said, "Good work everyone! Let's pack it up and head on out!"

The crew sighed in relief that nothing bad happened to them during the live broadcast. Sean wiped the sweat off his brow and took his mic off, "Whew! Nothing like a world in flames to keep you from sleeping, huh?"

"Especially if you're the type who can sleep standing up!" One of the crew joked at a writer.

"Hey, it ain't my fault! I need to use my hands!"

"Ok, ok, let's save it for when we get back, then talk about our apnea addiction!" Sean joked with them, and they all got a laugh out of it. While everyone was tearing down the lights and wires, Sean went back to the van to pack the smaller electronics. One of the crew members went to gather a bag to protect he lampshades and saw him.

"Yo, Hannity!"

"Oh, hey man."

"What's up?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about whether or not I can keep this up. I mean, the last few elections cycles-they're bad, but nowhere near this bad." At which point, Sean and the crewman started to walk around the van.

"Yeah, I know," the crewman said, "all this talk about the renegade and Phantom Task?"

"No, that's not what I'm-" Sean suddenly stopped.

"Then, what's the prob...huh?" The crewman noticed, "Sean? Hey, Sean?"

Sean didn't respond. He just grabbed a light stand and walked forward, "Everyone, get in the van."

"What?" a writer said, "What are you-"

"In the van, now!" Sean said as he rounded the van's rear and swung the stand right into something.

Someone. The hit was blocked and caused that person to skid back a few feet.

"Dammit..." Sean muttered.

"What are you-oh my god..." the writer saw at the last minute what had happened. So did the rest of the crew.

They found the renegade. Or rather, he found them.

"What are you doing here?!" Sean demanded.

To which the renegade withdrew his shield and simply said, "I'm here to make a deal with you."

 _Finally, the mission reaches a pivotal point. The renegade has the fortune of encountering someone who's capable of sending a message to the entire country in very little time. And while Phantom Task is off to another part of the country, thinning its mental fortitude further, what they don't know is that one of the biggest fights is coming. Namely, Tatenashi, who has already alerted_ _a few men in Wyoming of Phantom Task's interference, and_ _several officers in Florida of the renegade's coming assault._

 _Including an all-too familiar outcast who lies in wait. But will she fare well against the person responsible for shattering her ideal world, especially when he himself is preparing to feel now the weight of death and soon?_

 _The pieces begin to fall into place on the season's penultimate episode of Infinite Stratos...Virus._


End file.
